Determination of Ascorbic Acid in Different Citrus Fruits of Kathmandu Valley

Nishanta Shrestha, Sudan Shrestha and Ajaya Bhattarai

 

Research Paper I Published January,2016

 

Journal of Agricultural Science and Food Technology  Vol. 2 (1), pp.9-14

 

 

ABSTRACT

 

This study compared the concentration of ascorbic acid between citrus fruits collected from the area of Kathmandu valley of Nepal. Ascorbic acid was determined for six species of citrus: Lemon (Citrus limon), Bitter Orange (Citrus aurantium), Sweet Orange (Citrus aurantium var. sinensis), Pomelo (Citrus maxima), Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) and Citron (Citrus medica). Determination of ascorbic acid was carried out by iodometric titration, dye titration and spectrophotometric methods. In all three methods, the average concentration of ascorbic acid was found to be maximum in pomelo about 61.29 mg/100 ml and the least in citron about 17.4 mg/100 ml. The amount of ascorbic acid found in lemon, bitter orange, grapefruit and sweet orange were about 34.8 mg/100 ml, 29.89 mg/100 ml, 39.80 mg/100 ml, and 25.11 mg/100 ml respectively. The aim of this study is to compare the concentration of ascorbic acid among the citrus fruits collected from the area of Kathmandu valley of Nepal and also comparison is done with available literatures.

Key Words: Ascorbic acid, Iodometric titration, Dye titration and Spectrophotometric methods.
 

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