## 3 Results and Discussion
### Identification of Volatile Compounds
Alcohols contributed almost 14% of the total flavor profile (Figure 1) with (E)-3-hexen-1-ol (B1) contributing approximately 43% of the total relative concentration of alcohols (Figure 3). Esters contributed approximately 52% of the total volatiles (Figure 1). Overall, esters are known to be contributors of fruity and floral notes in peach [6]. Hexyl acetate (E3) contributed approximately 50% of the total esters (Figure 4). This may suggest that the peach cultivars used in this study may have had a more fruity and floral smell. Eight lactones contributed almost 27% of the total volatiles (Figure 1), with \(\gamma\)-decalactone (L6) as the dominant lactone (Figure 5). This result was consistent with the findings of [PERSON] et al. [6], where \(\gamma\)-decalactone (L6) and \(\delta\)-decalactone (L7) were the major components of all lactone compounds identified, with \(\gamma\)-decalactone (L8). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l} \hline \hline
**Classification** & **Volatile Compounds** & **Code a ** & **Early-Season** & **Mid-Season** & **Late-Season** \\ \hline Aldehydes & Hexanal & A1 & 6.1 a b ** & 3.2 b \\  & Benzaldehyde & A2 & \({}^{\text{tr}}\) & 22.0 b & 35.9 a \\  & Benzeneacetaldehyde & A3 & 0.9 b & 0.9 b & 3.1 a \\  & Nonanal & A4 & 14.5 a & 6.4 b & 5.5 b \\  & Decanal & A5 & 1.4 & 1.5 & 1.7 \\  & Dodecanal & A7 & 0.6 & \({}^{\text{tr}}\) & 0.3 \\ \hline Alcohols & (E)-3-Hexen-1-ol & B1 & 195.7 a & 37.4 b & 33.2 b \\  & 2-Hexen-1-ol, (E)- & B2 & 25.5 ab & 7.5 b & 49.4 a \\  & Hexanol & B3 & 41.7 & 69.7 & 20.7 \\  & Octanol & B4 & 0.3 & 0.1 & \({}^{\text{tr}}\) \\  & 1-Nonanol & B5 & 4.2 a & 3.5 a & 2.3 b \\  & 1-Undecanol & B6 & 23.7 a & 5.4 b & 7.2 b \\ \hline Esters & Methyl hexanoate & E1 & \({}^{\text{tr}}\) & 0.5 & 0.7 \\  & 3-Hexen-1-ol, acetate, (Z)- & E2 & 37.3 c & 82.1 b & 125.6 a \\  & Hexyl acetate & E3 & 379.4 & 258.3 & 263.0 \\  & 2-Hexen-1-ol, acetate, (Z)- & E4 & 273.8 & 165.9 & 177.6 \\  & Methyl benzoate & E5 & 0.7 & 1.3 & 0.6 \\  & Methyl octanoate & E6 & 2.1 b & 5.2 a & 2.6 b \\  & Ethyl octanoate & E7 & \({}^{\text{tr}}\) & 5.6 & \({}^{\text{tr}}\) \\  & 2(E)-Hexenyl butanoate & E8 & 0.4 b & 0.4 b & 1.3 a \\  & Methyl decanoate & E9 & 3.6 & 2.5 & 3.0 \\  & Methyl dodecanoate & E10 & 0.7 & 1.6 & 2.0 \\ \hline Lactones & \(\gamma\)-Hexalactone & L1 & 4.9 b & 7.0 a & 4.4 b \\  & \(\gamma\)-Octanolactone & L2 & \({}^{\text{tr}}\) & 3.6 a & 1.0 b \\  & \(\delta\)-Octalactone & L3 & \({}^{\text{tr}}\) & 0.6 a & 0.1 b \\  & \(\gamma\)-Nonalactone & L4 & \({}^{\text{tr}}\) & 0.5 & 0.3 \\  & 6-Amyl-\(\alpha\)-pyrone & L5 & 30.8 & 48.4 & 44.7 \\  & \(\gamma\)-Decalactone & L6 & 120.6 b & 228.9 a & 155.5 b \\  & \(\delta\)-Decalactone & L7 & 44.0 & 71.0 & 61.6 \\  & \(\gamma\)-Dodecalactone & L8 & 20.4 & 27.1 & 14.8 \\ \hline Terpenes & \(\beta\)-Myrrene & T1 & 1.3 & 0.4 & 0.5 \\  & D-Limonene & T2 & 0.9 & 0.8 & 0.6 \\  & Linalool & T3 & 16.5 a & 5.9 b & 5.5 b \\  & Geranyl acetone & T4 & 1.9 a & 0.1b & 0.7 b \\ \hline Carboxylic acids & Benzoic acid & BA & 1.3 b & 0.4 b & 4.1 a \\ \hline Ketones & \(\beta\)-Ionone & K1 & 3.0 & 4.8 & 0.5 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Volatile compounds (ng\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\)) detected in fresh fruit of all 42 peach cultivars grown in Georgia, United States of America, in 2016, as classified by ripening season. both accounting for almost 80% of all lactones. In our study, \(\gamma\)-decalactone (L6) and \(\delta\)-decalactone (L7) accounted for almost 70% of all lactones. Four terpenids were identified, and they accounted for approximately 1% of all the volatiles (Figure 1). Linalool (T3) was the dominant terpenoid and accounted for over 79% of the total terpenoids. In this work, only one ketone (\(\beta\)-ionone-K1) and one carboxylic acid (benzoic acid -BA) were identified (Table 1). The sum of these contributed to about 0.1% of the total flavor profile per cultivar. Because of their low levels, these are not discussed here in detail.