Abstract: An electronic nose (PEN3) was used to analyze Lactobacillus plantarum fermented grass carp. The volatile composition of fermented grass carp was dynamically sampled using a PEN3 system and then data analysis was conducted by using principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discrimination analysis (LDA).The results showed that the flavor of fermented changed slightly during the first 12 h of fermentation, but changed distinctly during the following 4 h, and changed little during the final 4 h. A high correlation between electronic nose output signal and sensory evaluation score was found. The flavor of fermented grass carp changed in a unidirectional manner during Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation as demonstrated by LDA, which allowed better identification of the flavor of fermented grass carp at different stages of fermentation. Meanwhile, it was found through loadings analysis that sensors W1S, W1C, W3C and W2S had similar effectiveness for identifying the flavor of fermented grass carp.

Key words: electronic nose, principal component analysis (PCA), linear discrimination analysis (LDA), grass carp, fementation