Geographical differentiation of Molixiang table grapes grown in China based on volatile compounds analysis by HS-GC-IMS coupled with PCA and sensory evaluation of the grapes

In this study, the volatile fingerprints of GC-IMS showed great differences on the volatile profiles of Molixiang grapes collected from three different regions of China, which suggested that aroma of table grapes could be largely impacted by origin areas. Butyl lactate, E-2-octenal and Z-2-pentanol were mainly contained in MLX-A, the grapes sampled from Ningbo, China. High contents of p-cymene, styrene and gamma-terpinene were observed in MLX-B grapes sampled from Beizhen, China. In addition, benzaldehyde and methyl benzoate were major contained in MLX-C grapes sampled from Zhangzhou, China. The PCA results revealed effective differentiation of samples from different geographical origin based on the information obtained from GC-IMS. Furthermore, sensory evaluation showed that the aroma characters of grapes from different geographical origin were significantly different (P <= 0.05). E-2-octenal, styrene and benzaldehyde might serve as the geographical marker compounds of origin area based on the results of GC-IMS analysis and sensory evaluation.

Automated summary

The study revealed significant differences in the volatile fingerprints of Molixiang grapes from different regions in China, indicating a substantial impact of origin on grape aroma; Sensory evaluation also showed significant differences in grape aromas from different geographical origins; E-2-octenal, p-cymene, styrene, and benzaldehyde may serve as geographical marker compounds.