Abstract:

The volatile components of several major kumquat varieties from China were investigated and compared. Gas
chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) combined with headspace solid phase micro-extraction was used to determine
the contents of volatile components from the peels of 15 different kumquat varieties. A total of 195 volatile substances were
detected in all the samples, including terpenes, alcohols and aldehydes. The number of volatile components identified in
each variety ranged from 45 to 78, and the total content of volatile components ranged from 791.69 to 27 405.95 μg/g fresh
weight with coefficient of variation of 46.46%. The main components were limonene, myrcene, α-terpinene, γ-terpinene,
isolimonene, terpinolene, α-pinene, γ-elemene, α-caryophyllene, germacrene D, α-amorphene and linalool. Principal
component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis were conducted based on the volatile components to classify different
kumquat varieties. The results indicated that there were significant differences in volatile composition (kind and quantity)
among these varieties, which could be used as an auxiliary tool to distinguish different kumquat varieties.

Key words: kumquat, volatile compounds, heat map, principal components analysis