Comparative Nutritional Analysis and Antioxidant Activity of Fruit Juices of some Citrus spp.

Fruit juices of four species of Citrus genus i.e. C. maxima, C. limon, C. sinensis, C. reticulata were analyzed for their nutritional content (i.e. soluble sugar, total RNA & pentose sugar, free amino acids, soluble protein, total phenolic compounds and vitamin-C) and antioxidant potential. The content of all studied parameters varied from one species to another but no specific trend was observed. The juice of C. reticulata was found to be rich in total soluble sugar (15.43 mg/100 ml) and free amino acids (15.18 mg/100 ml) as compared to other species of Citrus while C. sinensis contained the highest amount (23.07 mg/100 ml) of total phenolic content. Further, C. limon contained the highest amount of total soluble proteins (180.67 mg/100 ml), total RNA & pentose sugar content (131.07 mg/100 ml), and Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) content (67.97 mg/100 ml). C. sinensis & C. reticulata showed good reducing power activity at the dose of 300 μg/ml while C. limon showed good DPPH radical scavenging at all concentration ranges in comparison to the standard.