Abstract: The neutral aroma components of flue-cured tobacco samples from Shennongjia tobacco-growing region of Hubei Province were analyzed and compared with the high-quality tobacco samples from Zimbabwe. The results indicated that the neutral aroma component contents of flue-cured tobacco samples from Fangxian, Baokang and Xingshan regions basically reached or exceeded those from Zimbabwe, but there was more obvious difference between samples from Shennongjia region and Zimbabwe. The neutral aroma component contents of K326 were more than Yunyan87 in the ecological condition of Shennongjia region. Moreover, the contents of neutral aroma components showed difference in different leaf position, indicating the upper leaf (B2F) was the highest, the middle leaf (C3F) took the second place, and the lower leaf (X2F)was the lowest.

Key words: Shennongjia region, flue-cured tobacco, neutral aroma component