## 4 Conclusions  
In the present study, chemometric analysis of the volatile composition of fresh white ginseng roots analyzed by HS-SPME/GC-MS was used to discriminate between Korean ginseng cultivars and American ginseng. GC-MS data showed that the volatile compounds in the ginseng roots varied depending on the species, cultivar, and cultivation age. Unsupervised PCA and HCA showed that Korean ginseng cultivars and American ginseng could be divided into two clusters, which were determined by the different volatile compositions of each ginseng root. Moreover, the supervised PLS-DA model could be used to identify several sesquiterpenes (e.g., \(\beta\)-panaginsene, ginsene, \(\alpha\)-isocompene, cyanophyllene, and \(\beta\)-farnesene) as the key discriminant volatile compounds of different white ginseng roots. Although further study is still needed on the influence of these compounds on the specific aroma and flavor characteristics of ginseng root, our current study suggests that the sesquiterpene hydrocarbon profile of white ginseng root may play an important role in the aroma and flavor qualities of _Panax_ species and cultivars.  
**Supplementary Materials:** The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods12010136/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods12010136/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods12010136/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods12010136/s1)), Figure S1: Discriminant analysis of four different white ginseng roots grown for 3-6 years based on volatile compound data obtained from GC-MS. (**A**) PCA and (**B**) PLS-DA score plot; Figure S2: PLS-DA score plot of four different white ginseng roots based on volatile compound data obtained from GC-MS. (**A**) 3\(-\)year\(-\)old, (**B**) 4\(-\)year\(-\)old, (**C**) 5\(-\)year\(-\)old, and (**D**) 6\(-\)year\(-\)old ginseng roots; Figure S3: The VIP scores calculated from PLS-DA analysis on volatile compounds of four different white ginseng roots. (**A**) 3\(-\)year\(-\)old, (**B**) 4\(-\)year\(-\)old, (**C**) 5\(-\)year\(-\)old, (**D**) 6\(-\)year\(-\)old ginseng roots; Figure S4: Heat map and HCA clustering results of the discriminant volatile compounds identified in the four different white ginseng roots grown for 3-6 years (VIP value >1 in PLS-DA); Figure S5: PLS-DA model validation of volatile compounds present in the four different white ginseng roots grown for 3-6 years by using permutation test. Figure S6: PCA score plot of different year white ginseng roots based on volatile compound data obtained from GC-MS. (**A**) American ginseng, (**B**) Yunpoong, (**C**) Gumpoong, and (**D**) Cheon-ryang.  
**Author Contributions:** Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing--original draft, Y.K.; Writing--review and editing, Investigation, Methodology. I-H.J.; Investigation, Methodology, Resource, J.-W.L.; Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Resource, N.K.; Investigation, Methodology, Resource, D.K.; Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, J.-W.C.; K.-H.B.; Conceptualization,  
Figure 4: Profiles of the major discriminant volatile compounds identified in the four different white ginseng roots grown for 3–6 years. The tentative concentrations of volatile compounds are relatively indicated as percentages based on the total peak area (100) in the 6-year-old ‘Yunpoong’ cultivar. Data are provided as mean values (\(n=3\) biological replicates).  
Project administration, Funding acquisition, K.-H.B.; Data curation, Writing--review and editing, Supervision, J.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This work was carried out with the support of the Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. PJ01476003) of the Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.  
Not applicable.  
Data Availability Statement: Data are contained within the article or Supplementary Material.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.