Development of rapid and non-destructive technique for the determination of maturity indices of pomelo fruit (Citrus grandis)

Design and development of IDE sensor for naringin quantification in pomelo juice: An indicator of citrus maturity

Maturity determination of pomelo fruits having health-benefiting attributes is an important issue to enhance the quality of harvesting. Here, an interdigitated electrode (IDE) based sensor is introduced to detect its maturity by determining the naringin content. The sensor was made by depositing amberlite IRA-400 as a sensing layer on IDE patterned PCB substrate at room temperature with hydrothermal and spin-coating techniques. The sensor exhibits excellent selectivity for naringin, high sensitivity of 0.008 µA for 10 ppb of naringin, and reusability up to 3-4 times for naringin quantification in maturity testing of fruits. The pomelo fruits start to mature when maximum values of current response and naringin content are found at 140 DAFS. The naringin content decreases as maturity progresses and maximum phytochemical attributes were obtained at 180-220 DAFS. The IDE sensor assures an appropriate period of plucking of pomelo fruits improving harvesting practices and trade of citrus fruits.

Ultrasound aided debittering of bitter variety of citrus fruit juice: Effect on chemical, volatile profile and antioxidative potential

In the present study, sonication assisted debittering of pomelo fruit juice was carried out and the effect of sonication along with resin/enzyme on the chemical, phytochemical and volatile composition of juice was also investigated. The optimum conditions for sonication coupled debittering using resin were 50 kHz, 2 min, and 45 ℃ while 50 kHz, 60 min, and 60 ℃ were obtained for enzyme hydrolysis. Sonication treatment not only reduced the debittering time but also enhanced the adsorption and hydrolysis of naringin by 17% and 20% in resin and enzyme respectively. In addition, enzymatic activity was also improved and weakened C-O bonds in naringin. At the same time, sonication significantly affected the bioactive compounds of juice, chemical composition, and volatile compounds of juice. Flavor compounds including octanal, linalool, citral, and ethyl butyrate were enhanced by sonication-assisted enzymatic treated juice.

Emerging approaches to determine maturity of citrus fruit

Owing to their health-boosting properties and other appreciable properties, citrus fruit is widely consumed and commercialized worldwide. Destination markets around the world vary in their fruit quality requirements and are also highly influenced by climatic conditions, agronomical and postharvest practices. Hence, harvesting decisions are arduous. Maturity indices in citrus fruit are highly variable and dependent on the species and varieties, growing regions, and destination markets. For decades, determination of the maturity of citrus fruit and predicting the near time of harvesting was a challenge for producers, researchers, and food safety agencies. Thus, the current review provides a correlation between maturity and internal components and an overview of techniques of maturity determination for citrus fruits. Also, stress has been given to the destructive and nondestructive methods to determine the maturity level of different citrus species. The techniques presented in this review portray continuous productiveness as an excellent quality assessment, particularly as ripening and maturity analysis tools for citrus fruits. Traditional techniques are time-consuming, laborious, costly, destructive, and tedious. Thus, these nondestructive techniques hold great potential to replace conventional procedures.