ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Industrial Biotechnology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1647801
This article is part of the Research TopicProspecting Microbial Technologies for Agricultural SustainabilityView all 5 articles
Influence of Tobacco Flower Bud Extract on Microbial Community and Aroma Quality during Cigar Leaves Fermentation
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, China
- 2Tobacco Research Institute of Hubei Province, Wuhan, China
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This study investigate the regulatory effects of tobacco flower bud extract on microbial communities and aroma quality during the fermentation of cigar tobacco leaves by analyzing volatile aroma compounds and microbial community dynamics across different fermentation stages using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and metagenomic sequencing. Results revealed that tobacco flower buds contain 23 characteristic aroma compounds, including β-ionone and phenylethanal. Notably, the extract induced a pronounced microbial shift, enriching Aspergillus in unfermented leaves and promoting Staphylococcus dominance (97%-98%) during fermentation. This shift facilitated carbohydrate and protein degradation, significantly reducing nicotine content (P < 0.001), increased total sugar (12.5%–18.75%) and reducing sugar levels (13.04%–27.27%), and optimized the potassium-to-chloride ratio. Aroma analysis demonstrated significant enrichment of carotenoid degradation products (farnesyl acetone, citronellal) and Maillard reaction products (5-methyl-2-furaldehyde) in the FE group, with total aroma content increasing by 11.9% compared to control (FW). Metagenomic functional analysis further indicated that the extract inhibited pathways related to harmful metabolite synthesis (47.0% reduction) and enhanced carbohydrate metabolism (30.6% increasing). This study confirms that tobacco flower bud extract reshapes microbial communities and metabolic networks by simultaneously suppressing harmful microbes and enhancing aroma, providing theoretical support for optimizing cigar fermentation and agricultural waste utilization.
Keywords: Tobacco flower bud, Cigar tobacco leaves, Aroma quality, Metagenomics, microbial community
Received: 16 Jun 2025; Accepted: 22 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yao, Shan, Chen, Wang, Yang, Yu, Yang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lan Yao, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, China
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