Study the Effect of Heating Process on Nutritional, Phytochemical and Antioxidant Activity of Mandarin Peel: Implication for Waste Management

The aim of present study was to explore nutritional value of mandarin peel (waste product) and utilize it in feed or an alternative to synthetic supplements as it is a powerful source of vitamin C and polyphenolic contents. Mandarin peels were dried by placing them at three different heating systems (Sun, vacuum oven and microwave drying) and extraction was carried out using four different solvent systems (methanol, ethanol, acetone and aqueous). Present results showed that mandarin peels retain best nutritional quality on electric oven drying followed by sun drying and microwave drying systems. A significant amount of ascorbic acid was found as sun drying (18.34 mg) > electrical oven drying (17.49 mg) > microwave oven drying (15.22 mg) per 100 g of sample. Highest antioxidant activity of mandarin peels was observed in ethanolic extraction of electrical oven drying (89.38±0.7%). Maximum value of total phenolics content (TPC) was present in electrical oven dried (189±0.9 mg gallic acid equivalent /100 g) and sun dried sample (171.1±0.9 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g) of ethanolic extraction. Total Flavonoid content (TFC) was present highly in ethanolic extraction of sun dried sample (376.55±0.7 mg quercetin equivalent/100 g)