Evaluation of quality characteristics of 15 Gastrodia elata germplasm resources based on HS-SPME-GC-MS, HPLC and electronic nose techniques

As a medicinal-food homologous plant, Gastrodia elata (G. elata) possesses significant economic and medicinal value; however, current germplasm identification methods remain relatively simplistic. This study integrated High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Electronic Nose (E-nose), and Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction coupled with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) to comprehensively analyze the phenolic and flavor profiles of 15 G. elata germplasms from China. HPLC analysis identified three key phenolic markers: gastrodin (0.05 %–0.64 %), 4-hydroxybenzylalcohol (with significant regional differences), and parishin E (0.57 %–1.26 %). E-nose analysis revealed that odor differences between G. elata germplasm were primarily detected by the W1W (Sensor response: 29.65), W2W (Sensor response: 11.18), and W5S (Sensor response: 12.11) sensors. Principal component analysis (PCA) effectively distinguished the 15 samples from 8 regions. HS-SPME-GC-MS analysis identified 43 characteristic volatiles. 4-Methoxymethylphenol (0 %–0.28 %), (E)-3-phenylprop-2-enoic acid (0 %–1.37 %), cyclododecane (0 %–0.31 %), undecylcyclopentane (0 %–0.60 %), and 3-methylheptadecane (0 %–0.95 %) emerged as discriminative markers for germplasm differentiation, while hexadecanoic acid (7.84 %–16.71 %) identified as a universal aroma component. Furthermore, this study revealed unique differential components in various G. elata variants, such as (Z,Z)-octadeca-9,12-dienoic acid (3.80 %–6.78 %) in G. elata Bl. f. elata, 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol (1.48 %–10.09 %) and methyl hexadecanoate (0.53 %–2.74 %) in G. elata Bl. f. viridis. By establishing a multidimensional identification framework for G. elata, this study elucidates the geo-chemical relationships and provides a scientific foundation for quality assessment, authenticity verification, and cultivar selection.