Quality Characteristics of Tobacco Leaves with Different Aromatic Styles from Guizhou Province, China

The relationships between chemical components and quality indexes were studied in the tobacco leaves with different aromatic styles. A total of 16 chemical components, 4 quality indexes, and 6 smoking quality indexes from 366 tobacco leaf samples with 4 different types of aroma from Guizhou Province, China, were subjected to principal component analysis and stepwise regression analysis. The tobacco leaves with different types of aroma showed remarkable difference in the contents of chemical components, quality indexes, and smoking quality indexes. The first principal factors (carbohydrates and nitrogen-containing compounds) of the chemical composition of the leaf were similar among different types of aroma, which showed that the quality of the leaf was mainly influenced by carbohydrates and nitrogen-containing compounds and their ratios. The factors for the second through the seventh principal components varied largely among various aromatic types, suggesting the contribution of other chemical components to the leaf quality. In addition, the smoking quality of four different aromatic leaves showed significant correlation with the different chemical components. The quality of tobacco leaves with different types of aroma was influenced by multiple factors, especially ecological conditions and culture techniques, which may provide guidance for directive cultivation of high-quality tobacco leaves.