Effect of methods of curing on aroma compounds of chewing tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) genotypes grown in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of curing methods on quality characters of various chewing tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) genotypes grown in Tamil Nadu. Seven varieties of chewing tobacco (I-64, Bhagyalakshmi, Abirami, Meenakshi, Maragdam, Thangam and Vairam) were grown under recommended cultural practices and subjected to different curing methods viz., sun-curing, pit-curing and smoke-curing. The sun-cured tobacco contained significantly higher levels of organic acids, protein and carotenoids, whereas significantly lower levels of petroleum ether extractives and free fatty acids compared to pit and smoke-cured tobacco. Pit-cured tobacco showed significantly higher content of petroleum ether extractives and free fatty acids and lower levels of carotenoids, organic acids and carbonyl compounds. Smoke-cured tobacco showed significantly higher levels of carbonyl compounds and lower levels of protein. The free fatty acid content varied from 8.66 to 68.63 lmol g-1 among the varieties under different curings. The variety Vairam showed significantly higher content of free fatty acids, while variety Abirami showed significantly higher content of carbonyl compounds, whereas the variety Bhagyalakshmi showed lower levels. The sun-cured variety Meenakshi showed 2.34 and 1.8 times more petroleum ether extractives when it was pit cured compared to sun and smoke-cured. There was a significant variation in the content of aroma compounds in the varieties when they were subjected to different curing methods. The results revealed that, in case of chewing tobacco, the method of curing significantly affects the biochemical constituents.