Objective To understand the contents of aroma components in flue-cured tobacco in different tobacco-growing areas of Zhaotong.

Method The central flue-cured tobacco leaves of 120 samples were collected from 8 tobacco-growing areas of Zhaotong. The aroma components of these samples were detected. These indexes were analyzed using multiple comparisons and cluster analysis.

Result and conclusion At 0.05 level, there were no significant difference among 13 aroma components of samples, but there were significant differences among 56 aroma components of samples. Based on the functional groups aroma components, there were significant differences of aldehydes, alcohols, phenols, heterocyclic, esters, acids, olefins aroma contents of these samples except for ketene aroma content. Based on the functional groups of aroma components, the results of cluster analysis indicated that 8 tobacco tobacco-growing areas of Zhaotong could be classified into 4 types: The first type included Daguan, Yiliang and Zhenxiong areas; the second type included Qiaojia and Weixin areas; the third type included Ludian and Zhaoyang areas; the fourth type included Yongshan area. The contents of aroma components of samples in different tobacco-growing areas of Zhaotong were different, 81.16% of the aroma components of these samples were significantly different. When evaluating the content of aroma component in flue-cured tobacco of Zhaotong areas, not only the total aroma components in flue-cured tobacco but also the composition and proportion should be taken into consideration.