Abstract:
By measuring the chemical composition index and sensory evaluation quality index of the upper six tobacco leaves from 16 acquisition stations of Xuchang tobacco area in 2020, 2021 and 2022, we evaluated the inter-site and interannual stability, and analyzed the relationship between sensorial quality and conventional chemical composition of upper six tobacco leaves. The results showed that:(1) There was a high spatial heterogeneity in the internal chemical components of tobacco leaves from different acquisition stations. The sites with higher total alkaloid and total nitrogen contents were distributed in the southern part of Yuzhou City and the southern part of Xiangxian County, the sites with higher reducing sugar and total sugar content were distributed in the eastern part of Xiangxian County, and the sites with high potassium and chlorine content were distributed in the west and central part of Xiangxian County.(2) The acquisition stations with large inter-annual variation of chemical composition indexes were Kuzhuang, Zhangzhuang and Fanpo. The total variation coefficient of chemical component index was as follows: potassium-chloride ratio > chlorine content > total sugar-total alkaloid ratio > potassiumcontent >reducing sugar content>total sugarcontent>total alkaloid content>total nitrogen-total alkaloid ratio>total nitrogencontent.(3) The total score of sensory evaluation was better in Fenchen, Jiangzhuang, Zhangzhuang and Wang Luo, and the total score of sensory evaluation from Xiangxian acquisition site was better than that from Yuzhou acquisition site. The total score of sensory evaluation was significantly positively correlated with reducing sugar and potassium-chloride ratio, significantly positively correlated with potassium content, and significantly negatively correlated with chlorine content. The reducing sugar content,potassium content, chlorine content and potassium-chloride ratio were the main factors affecting the quality of the upper six tobacco leaves in Xuchang tobacco-growing area.