A field experiment was conducted in 1972 at Lexington, Kentucky, on Maury silt loam soil (Type paleudalf) to determine the effect of N fertilization (ammonium nitrate) and burley tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) genotype on selected smoke constituents from all-burley cigarettes. Two commercial cultivars (Ky 14 and Burley 21) and three burley breeding lines (low-alkaloid Burley 21, low- Intermediate-alkaloid Burley 21, and high-Intermediate-alkaloid Burley 21) were used. Generally, adding N fertilizer at the rate of 224 kg N/ha produced small increases in average levels of total particulate matter (TPM), nicotine, tar (TPM-nicotine-water), NO, total phenols, o-cresol, and m + p-cresol in cigarette smoke over amounts obtained from the 112.kg rate. Further additions of N to either 336 or 446 kg N/ha greatly Increased values for NO, decreased TPM, tar, total phenols, and o-cresol, and had little effect on nicotine or m + p-cresol. The data suggest that the decreases in TPM, tar, and phenols al the high rates of N fertilizer may be attributed to high levels of leaf nitrate. Cigarette smoke from the reduced alkaloid genotypes contained smaller amounts of all constituents measured than Ky 14 and Burley 21. Among the reduced alkaloid lines, low-alkaloid Burley 21 contained lowest amounts of all constituents, and the amount of each smoke constituent was related positively to concentration of total alkaloids in leaves.

(Full article published with kind permission from "Tobacco International")