Spectrophotometric Quantification of Antioxidant Phytochemicals in Juices from Four Different Varieties of Citrus limon, Indigenous to Pakistan

Abstract

This research work was carried out to quantify the total phenolics, flavonoids and carotenoides, vitamin C contents, reported as antioxidants, in juices of four varieties of Pakistani Citrus limon. Juice was extracted from fresh lemon samples using classical method and subjected to study the various quality parameters. The total phenolic contents from juices of Citrus limon, determined following the Folin-Ciocalteu assay were found in the range of 690.62–998.29 mg/L, showing the significant inter-varietals variations. The total flavonoids and vitamin C contents from juices of Citrus limon were found in the range of 211.36–220.34 and 18.87–25.1 mg/L, respectively Whereas, the total carotenoides contents of Citrus limon juices were found in a low concentrations i.e. 0.05–0.08 mg/L. The statistical analysis showed significant (p < 0.05) variations in the total phenolic, carotenoides and vitamin C contents while non-significant (p > 0.05) variation in total flavonoids contents among different varieties of Citrus limon.