Widely targeted metabolomics analysis revealed components change regularity of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge after post-harvest drying under different temperature

Post-harvest drying is a key bridge between farm crops and market products. Salvia miltiorrhiza is widely used in functional food and pharmaceutical products with abundant bioactive constituents and broad planting area. To clarify metabolic change occurring during post-harvest drying under different temperature, a widely targeted metabolomics was conducted and 437 representative metabolites including 56 phenolic acids and 75 terpenoids were comprehensively characterized. By expanding the post-harvest drying temperature range (45–150 ℃), 100 ℃ was unambiguous found to be the key turning point for metabolite profiling change in S. miltiorrhiza, which were dominated by enzymatic catalytic biosynthesis (≤100 ℃) and chemical induced transformation (≥100 ℃), respectively. Moreover, the change-transformation network was also proposed to associate different types of metabolites by mapping their biosynthetic pathway. This study will provide insight into temperature selection and controlling the metabolic composition during the post-harvest drying process of S. miltiorrhiza and other similar products