A Study on Peel Volatile Constituents and Juice Quality Parameters of Four Tangerine (Citrus reticulata) Cultivars from Ramsar, Iran

The peel volatile constituents and juice quality parameters of four tangerine cultivars were investigated in this study. Peel flavor constituents were extracted by using cold-press and eluted by using n-hexane. Then all analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Total soluble solids, total acids, pH value, ascorbic acid as well as density and ash were determined in juice obtained from tangerine cultivars. Forty-six, Twenty- five, Forty and thirty-four peel constituents in Dancy, Cleopatra, Ponkan and Atabaki cultivars respectively including: aldehydes, alcohols, esters, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and other components were identified and quantified. The major flavor constituents were linalool, limonene, γ-terpinene, (E)-β-ocimene, β myrcene, α-Pinene. Among the four cultivars examined, Dancy showed the highest content of aldehydes and Younesi showed the highest content of TSS. Since the aldehyde and TSS content of citrus peel are considered as two of the most important indicators of high quality, variety apparently has a profound influence on citrus quality.