Development and Standardization of Accelerated Tobacco Curing Protocols to Quantify the Propensity for TSNA Production and Accumulation

The current gbesth practices of tobacco curing are guided by multiple studies on general tobacco curing trends but are not specific for a given tobacco batch. For more specific, more refined guidance for best practices it would be beneficial to know if a batch of tobacco grown from a certain location using a specific variety, has either low, moderate or high propensity for TSNA production before the crops are harvested. In principle, pre]harvest information on the propensity of a tobacco batch for low, moderate or high TSNA production and accumulation upon curing may be attained by a predictive TSNA]production propensity assay. However, there is no such predictive assay specific for TSNA that the proponent is aware of to date. Hence it is the aim of this exploratory research proposal to develop and standardize accelerated tobacco curing protocols to quantify the propensity for TSNA production and accumulation. The standardized protocols will quantitatively determine if a specific tobacco batch has low, moderate or high propensity for TSNA production and accumulation which will assist in decision making for the most appropriate, batch]specific tobacco curing strategies.