Abstract:
The relationship between the physical properties and regular chemical compositions and appearance quality were explored by simple correlation analysis, path analysis, and variance analysis of 125 samples of flue-cured tobacco. The results showed that the leaf thickness and leaf weight had the closest relationship (r = 0.808 ). There were very significantly negative correlation between leaf thickness, leaf weight, total potassium, sugar/alkali, nitrogen/alkali, and K/Cl, which all had significant correlation with potassium. On the other hand, there are significantly positive correlation between mass burning rate and total potassium, sugar/alkali, nitrogen/alkali, and K/Cl. Also there were very significantly negative correlation between equilibrium moisture content and filling power, but the relationship between tensile strength and chemical composition of tobacco was not significant. For the physical indices, leaf weight had the most important influence on the appearance quality of tobacco leaves, and had significant influence on leaf color, figure, and chrome, but little effect on maturity, leaf structure, and oil content