Abstract:

Radial furrow fertilization method was used to investigate the effect of different potassium fertilizer rates on
volatiles of “Chongyanghong” peach fruit as a major cultivar grown in Shaanxi province using peaches without potassium
fertilization as the control. Solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) was used to
determine the composition and contents of volatile aroma components. A total of 82 volatiles were detected in the control (CK)
and three treatment (K1, K2 and K3) groupds, mainly including aldehydes, esters, alcohols hydrocarbons and ketiones. Meanwhile
12 characteristic aroma components were identified and the order of their relative contents in four groups was as follows: K3 <
K2 < CK < K1. In addition, compared with control, the potassium fertilizer increased the contents of aldehydes, hydrocarbons and
ketiones, but decreased the contents of alcohols and esters. Different volatiles were detected among different potassium fertilizer
rates, the content of fruity aroma compounds in fruits from the application of 0.47 kg of potassium fertilizer was the highest, (Z)-3-
hexyl acetate making the largest contribution to the aroma. The content of green aroma compounds in 0.70 kg potassium fertilizer
fruits was the highest, but with light fruity. Flowery aroma components existed in peach fruits grown in the soils fertilized with
0.47 kg and 0.93 kg of potassium, respectively, thus having a richer aroma. Therefore, applying 0.47 kg of potassium fertilizer can
make peach fruity aroma richer.

Key words: peach, potassium fertilizer, volatiles, solid phase microextraction (SPME), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)