2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Floral aroma plays an important role in the reproductive processes of plants and the aesthetic implication of ornamental plants. Accurate determination of aroma components is limited by collection and analysis methods. Electronic nose (E-nose) can recognize single or complex odor quickly and completely and has been widely applied for food science. We analyzed floral aroma of Malus ‘Spring Sensation’ using Pen3 E-nose with the orthogonal design at various flowering stages, sample quantity, collecting time, headspace equilibrium temperature and duration. The results indicated that the impact of various factors on the sensors of E-nose was: collecting time > headspace equilibrium temperature > flowering stage > sample quantity > equilibration duration. The most important factor was collecting time and equilibrium duration had the less impact on the electronic nose.The optimal condition was A₃B₄C₂D₂E₁,which meant flowers in bloom (A₃), 4 g of flowers (B₄) collected during 10:00-12:00 am (C₂) and the flower sample could be analyzed after equilibrating at 20°C (D₂) for one hour (E₁). The sensor #7 and #9 of the E-nose had higher peak during the analysis processes of crabapple floral aroma, but the sensor #1, #3 and #4 had very lower detection. Our findings suggested that the sensor array should be optimized before handling the data of floral aroma. The E-nose could be applied for quick determination of Malus ‘Spring Sensation’ floral aroma, which could be further applied to distinguish crabapple taxa.