## 4 Conclusions  
The present finding highlights important inferences, such as the fact that monitoring cooked rice volatiles has specific advantages over the traditional method of raw rice profiling. The present study demonstrated that Kala Namak varieties such as Pusa-1652 (Improved Kala Namak) and Kala Namak-2 were superior in the 2-AP content than Basmati varieties. Moreover, the study revealed that the 2-AP content considerably increased after cooking, which might be attractive to consumers. As 2-AP is shown to have a reduced effect with storage, for aromatic segments, it is important to use either the fresh harvests or store the samples at refrigerated conditions to maintain a higher aroma. This study showed that the cooked rice was the best matrix to distinguish volatile compound profiles of aromatic and non-aromatic rice varieties. In addition, untargeted profiling combined with targeted profiling of 2 AP has identified several unique fruity odor targets in non-basmati rice varieties. Of these, ethyl butyrate (fruity green), ethyl 3-methylbutanoate (fruity sweet apple), ethyl benzoate (sweet fruity), 2-methylphalene (sweet floral), and unknown odor contributing volatiles 1-methylnaphthalene, ethyl benzeneacetate were characteristically detected at higher levels in several aromatic varieties in the cooked rice samples. The deployment of volatilomics technologies to quantify 2-AP content reliably and the profiling of other aromatic volatile compounds through an untargeted approach further helped to identify unique rice landraces that could potentially be commercialized under a geographical indicator (GI) tag and to provide genetically diverse donor parents for crop improvement programs. Moreover, the dominant volatile compounds detected in each of the rice varieties could potentially serve as biochemical markers that may assist in detecting adulteration and determining the authenticity of the genotype. The study also sheds light into potentially diversifying the aroma signatures in pre-breeding and breeding for targeting it as premium quality rice with superior and distinct aroma. The following are available online at [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods10081917/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods10081917/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods10081917/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods10081917/s1)), Figure S1: images of paddy and milled rice samples of studied traditional and improved varieties, Figure S2: the total ion chromatogram (TLC) of volatile compounds of rice sample, which were extracted using three different SPME fibers, CAR/PDMS, PDMS/DVB, and 50/30 \(\mu\)m DVB/CAR/PDMS, Figure S3: optimization of SPME conditions. (a) Comparative peak area of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2-AP) at different extraction times (5, 15, and 30 min), incubation temperatures (30, 60, and 90 \({}^{\circ}\)C) and sample weights (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 g). (b) Effect of different amounts of water (0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 mL) addition in 1.0 g rice grain on the peak area of 2-AP after extraction at 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 15 min. Different letters indicate significant differences at \(p<0.05\), as determined by [PERSON]'s test, Figure S4: (a) 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2-AP) content in raw, and (b) cooked rice samples of ten different traditional and improved varieties grown in the wet season of 2019. The 2-AP content below the level of detection is indicated as hash (#). Different letters indicate significant differences At \(p<0.05\), as determined by [PERSON]'s test. Pusa-1652 (Improved Kala Namak) is abbreviated as Pusa-1652 (IKN), Table S1: optimized multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode parameters for 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2-AP) and internal standard 2,6-dimethylpyridine (2,6-DMP). (RT: retention time, CE: collision energy). **Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, D.K. ; methodology, D.K. ; software, D.K. ; formal analysis, D.K. ; investigation, D.K. ; resources, V.K.S., A.K.S. and H.B. ; data curation, D.K. ; writing--originaldraft preparation, D.K.