Analysis of aroma and key differential volatile compounds during ripening stages of three strawberry cultivars using HS-SPME-GC-MS, GC-IMS, and E-nose.

This study focused on three strawberry cultivars in Hongyan (HY), Xiangye (XY), and Miaoxiang (MX), to systematically investigate the dynamic variations and formation mechanisms of aroma components during six different ripening stages. In the study, multi-technology platforms such as HS-SPME-GC-MS, GC-IMS and E-Nose, combined with sensory evaluation and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), were used to systematically characterize the aroma characteristics. Sensory evaluation and E-Nose revealed XY showing the highest late-stage aroma richness. GC-IMS revealed aldehydes dominating in early stages, shifting to esters and terpenoids in later ripe stages. HS-SPME-GC-MS identified 70 VOCs: HY exhibited balanced ester accumulation, MX featured pronounced furans, and XY showed unique terpenoids enrichment. OPLS-DA identified Hexanal, 2-Hexenal, Linalool, 4-Methoxy-2,5-dimethylfuran-3(2H)-one, and 5-Hexyldihydrofuran-2(3H)-one are the key differential volatile compounds of three strawberry cultivars. This study revealed the dynamic formation of strawberry aroma, and provided theoretical information for variety breeding and harvest optimization.