Characterizing Relationship of Microbial Community in Xiaoqu and Volatiles of Light-aroma-type Xiaoqu Baijiu

As an essential fermentative starter of light-aroma-type Xiaoqu Baijiu, Xiaoqu plays a crucial role in the formation of flavor characteristics. Herein, we explored the correlations between the microbiota and volatiles via polyphasic detection and analysis methods. Significant differences in microbial community structure were observed among three typical Xiaoqu from different regions of China. Moreover, the diversity of bacterial community was much higher than that of fungal community in Xiaoqu samples. In total, fourteen dominant bacterial and five dominant fungal genera were detected in Xiaoqu samples, of which Herbaspirillum, Weissella, and Rhizopus were the common dominant genera. The correlation network analysis showed that 74 different volatiles were correlated with 19 dominant genera. Importantly, the results suggested that the difference of locations and the diversity and relationship of microbiota in Xiaoqu truly affected the abundance and composition of volatiles in Xiaoqu Baijiu. Overall, our study provides scientific information on identifying the key microbiota contributing to the formation of Baijiu flavor.