Study on curing effect of continued slow warming technique using the loose leaf bulk curing of flue-cured tobacco with leaf-holding needle

The comparative experiment was conducted between continued slow warming technique（ T） and conventional curing technique（ CK） in order to further improve the quality of flue-cured tobacco leaves using the loose leaf bulk curing with leaf-holding needle. The results showed that，compared with CK，T can significantly improve commercial grades，and highly significant improve the ratio of superior tobacco leaves. Lower leaves， middle and upper leaves increased respectively 34.57%，31.96% and 15.84%. T can significantly decreased the ratio of lower grades，out of grade and slick tobacco. The lower leaves decreased respectively 35.06%，40.66% and 69.47%，the middle leaves decreased respectively 32.42%，47.31%and 50.48%. The low grade tobacco of upper leaves were decreased 91.87%. The contents of main chemical components of tobacco leaves and their derived values was moderate. The content of aroma components was higher，lower leaves，middle and upper leaves increased 2.94%，6.15% and 6.65% respectively. The intrinsic quality of tobacco leaves is better. Conclusion：the continued slow warmiug curing technology can significantly improve the appearance quality，internal quality and availability of tobacco leaves using the loose leaf bulk curing with leaf-holding needle.