Characteristics of main chemical components in flue-cured tobacco leaves from areas around Qinling mountains and their relationship with cigarette smoking quality

To analyze the characteristics of main chemical components in flue-cured tobacco leaves from the areas around Qinling mountains,58 samples of flue-cured tobacco leaves(C3F) were collected from Ankang,Hanzhong and Shangluo(the major tobacco planting areas around Qinling mountains).The main chemical components in middle leaves were determined and their relationship with cigarette smoking quality was studied.The results showed that:1) The chemical components in the leaf samples were harmonious in general,while the Cl contents in all the samples were low,30% of the samples were lower than 1.50% in K contents,21% of the samples with a starch content higher than 6%,the samples with reduced sugar/total sugar ratio less than 0.75 accounted for 32%.Higher starch contents,lower K and Cl contents and reduced sugar/total sugar ratio were the main factors influencing the chemical component consistency of middle leaves from the areas around Qinling mountains.2) The samples from Ankang possessed relatively lower nicotine contents and higher reduced sugar/nicotine and total nitrogen/nicotine ratios.The nicotine and starch contents in samples from Hanzhong were significantly higher.The samples from Shangluo had relatively lower K contents and K/Cl ratios.3) The contents of total nitrogen and Cl and the reduced sugar/total sugar ratio were the main factors influencing the smoking quality of middle leaves.In this study,sensory quality was improved when the nitrogen contents were decreased,while Cl contents and reduced sugar/total sugar ratios increased.Therefore,to improve the quality of flue-cured tobacco leaves in the areas around Qinling mountains,it is recommended that Cl contents and reduced sugar/total sugar ratios should be appropriately raised and total nitrogen contents should be reduced.