Abstract:
In order to understand the difference in physical characteristics of flue-cured tobacco in different tobacco growing areas in Hubei Province, flue-cured tobacco samples from 15 counties of Hubei Province were collected to determine indexes of physical characteristics of tobacco leaves, statistical analysis and systematic clustering were conducted. The results showed that:(1) Leaf width, length-width ratio, leaf weight, and stem ratio of total leaf in B2F grades were significantly different among Xiangyang, Shiyan and Enshi regions. Single leaf weight of C3F grade flue-cured tobacco was significantly different among Xiangyang, Shiyan and Enshi regions, and there was no difference of X2F among these regions. 2) Tobacco from Zhushan, Zhuxi, Yunxi, Xuanen, Xianfeng, Nanzhang, Jianshi, Baokang, Enshi, Hefeng, Badong, Fangxian and Lichuan were clustered into one clade, and tobacco from Zaoyang and Xiangzhou were clustered into another clade. Physical characteristics of flue-cured tobacco from Xiangyang was significantly different with that from Shiyan and Enshi. 3) The physical characteristics of flue-cured tobacco in Hubei had large variation in single leaf weight and tensile strength, and with higher leaf position, leaf length, length-width ratio, and single leaf weight increased. Leaf length, length-width ratio, single leaf weight were closely related to leaf position.