The Comparison of Chemical Components of Licorice Extracts and Discrimination Analysis of Licorice Cultivation Areas by Electronic Nose

감초 추출물의 산지별 화학성분 비교 및 전자코 장치를 이용한 산지 판별 분석

This study was carried out to compare the quality of licorices from various cultivating areas. licorice samples used in this study were collected from North-east and Sinkiang area in China, Mongolia, Uzvekistan and Kazahstan. The chemical components of licorice samples were analyzed and the signal patterns of the electracts were detected by the electronic nose. Contents of glycyrrhizin and glicyrrhizic acid, the key components of licorice were distributed in the region of 16.7～25.2% and 5.8～10.2%, respectively and were various according to the samples of the collected areas. In glycyrrhizin contents, root of Sinkiang showed the lowest value of 16.7%, and that of North-east the highest of 25.2%. In glycyrrhizic acid contents, root of Sinkiang showed the lowest of 5.8 %, and Kazahstan showed the highest of 10.2 %. Composition ratio of glycyrrhizin to glycyrrhizic acid was not always limear. As other components is other components affecting quality, contents of ash, starch and gums were 2.4～3.7%, 0.2～3.9%, respectively. When the headspace volatiles of licorices were analyzed using Electronic Nose System and the obtained data were interpreted using statistical method of MANOVA, characteristic patterns of licorices were different from each other according to collected area and its p value showed 0.0001. These results suggest that licorices may be discriminated from the collected areas by using Electronic Nose System.