Relationship between contents of total nitrogen as well as soluble protein and main volatile aroma components in flue-cured tobacco leaves

【Objective】 The study provided academic gist for leaf group blending of cigarette.【Method】 99 flue-cured tobacco samples from Yunnan Province were used as materials to analyze the change of main volatile aroma components under different levels of contents of total nitrogen as well as the soluble protein in flue-cured tobacco leaves.【Result】 The results showed that:(1) the content of total nitrogen was low;the content of soluble protein was located in the proper range.Among all the main volatile aroma components,the contents of neoplytadiene were high.(2) The cluster analysis results indicated that there was inherent relationship between total nitrogen,the soluble protein and main volatile aroma components.The group with the lowest contents of total nitrogen and the soluble protein had the lowest contents of products of aromatic amino acid metabolism,and products degraded by cembrane,neoplytadiene and main volatile aroma components,but the highest contents of products of Maillard reaction and products degraded by carotene.The group with the medium contents of total nitrogen and the soluble protein had the highest contents of products degraded by cembrane,neoplytadiene and main volatile aroma components,and the medium contents of products of aromatic amino acid metabolism.The group with the highest total nitrogen and the soluble protein had the highest contents of products of aromatic amino acid metabolism,but the medium contents of products degraded by cembrane,neoplytadiene and main volatile aroma components.The analysis of variance showed that the cluster analysis was reasonable.【Condusion】 In general,tobacco leaves with medium contents of total nitrogen(15.3-18.8 mg/g) and the soluble protein(84.2-103.4 mg/g)had suitable physiological strength,small biting taste,rich volume of aroma and high usability.