This study aimed to develop a potential analytical method to discriminate the Chinese winter wheat according to geographical origin and cultivars. A total of 90 wheat samples of 10 different wheat cultivars among three regions were examined by headspace solid phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The peak areas of 32 main volatile compounds were selected and subjected to statistical analysis, which revealed significant differences among different regions and cultivars. Multivariate analysis of variance showed a significant influence of regions, wheat genotypes, and their interaction on the volatile composition of wheat. Principal component analysis of the aromatic profile showed better visualization for wheat geographical origins. Finally, a classification model based on the linear discriminant analysis was successfully constructed for the discrimination of regions and cultivars with the correct classification percentages of 90 and 100%, respectively.
Keywords: HS-SPME/GC-MS; cultivar; geographical origin; multivariate analysis; volatile compounds; winter wheat (Triticum aestivum).
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.