Abstract:
To explore the effects of exogenous enzyme preparations on the quality of tobacco leaves for cigar fillers in secondary fermentation, tobacco leaves of Dexue 1 after primary fermentation were taken as experimental materials, and four enzymes including phytase, cellulase, pectase and neutral protease at three concentrations of 60, 90 and 120 U/g were used for secondary fermentation experiments. Contents of amino acids and routine chemical components in the fermented leaves were determined, and the chemical component usability indexes (CCUI) and sensory quality of tobacco leaves after the secondary fermentation were evaluated. The results showed that: the addition of exogenous enzyme preparations generally increased the contents (mass fractions) of total sugar, reducing sugar, potassium and amino acids in the treated tobacco leaves, reduced the contents of protein and total nitrogen, and improved the harmony of chemical components and sensory quality. Compared with the control, the treatments of 120 U/g cellulase and 120 U/g pectase increased the contents of total sugar and reducing sugar and reduced nicotine content in the leaves significantly. The treatments of 90 U/g phytase and 90 U/g neutral protease increased the contents of amino acids and reduced protein content in the leaves significantly. The results of CCUI analysis indicated that the degrees of harmony of chemical components in the leaves under the treatments of pectase and cellulase were better than that under the treatments of phytase and neutral protease. When treated with the same exogenous enzyme, the sensory quality score of the tobacco leaves increased with the increase of enzyme concentration, and the score under the treatment of 120 U/g phytase was the highest, followed by the treatment of 120 U/g cellulase. Therefore, the addition of 120 U/g cellulase before the secondary fermentation helps to improve the harmony of chemical components and the sensory quality of tobacco leaves for cigar fillers.