Factor Analysis and Comprehensive Evaluation on Carotenoid Degradation Products in Flue-cured Tobacco Leaves of Qingjiang Area

By correlation analysis and factor analysis, totally 24 of tobacco samples from 8 tobacco growing counties of Hubei Province were analyzed with data from 12 carotenoid degradation products in flue-cured tobacco leaves. A comprehensive evaluation was carried out by using the factor scores. The obtained results indicated that the contents of the carotenoid degradation products were positively or highly positively correlated with that of the others. The contribution rate of first-three characteristic roots reached 85.05%. Three main factors from the carotenoid degradation products were obtained, namely the megastigmatrienone factor, damascone factor, heptene factor. The comprehensive evaluation result of factor analysis was essentially identical with sensory evaluation result, which could be used in assessing the quality of flue-cured tobacco leaves and also could provide scientific reference to flue-cured tobacco products.