De-Oiled Citrus Peels as Feedstock for the Production of Pectin Oligosaccharides and Its Effect on Lactobacillus fermentum, Probiotic Source

Rohan Sarkar; Lata Nain; Aditi Kundu; Anirban Dutta; Debarup Das; Shruti Sethi; Supradip Saha

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.826250

De-Oiled Citrus Peels as Feedstock for the Production of Pectin Oligosaccharides and Its Effect on Lactobacillus fermentum, Probiotic Source

Front Nutr. 2022 May 17:9:826250. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.826250. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Rohan Sarkar¹, Lata Nain², Aditi Kundu¹, Anirban Dutta¹, Debarup Das³, Shruti Sethi⁴, Supradip Saha¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Agricultural Chemicals, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
² Division of Microbiology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
³ Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
⁴ Division of Food Science and Postharvest Technology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.

Abstract

Following the extraction of essential oil, citrus (Mousambi, Kinnow, and Orange) peel wastes were used to produce pectin. The yield of essential oil and pectin was maximum in orange. Pectin was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. The degree of esterification (DE) and methoxyl content (MC) was maximum in orange whereas, the equivalent weight was maximum in Mousambi. A significant increase (61.8%) in the Lactobacillus fermentum population was observed with pectin as compared with sugar. Three sources followed the Orange > Kinnow > Mousambi trend as a prebiotic source. It was attributed to higher DE as well as higher MC. Enhancement in the bacterial population was in the range of 79.16-87.50%. The present work confirms the potential of pectin as a probiotic source for the enhancement of the bacterial population. Thus, it has a large scope for use in the food industry targeting a circular economy.

Keywords: Citrus sp; XRD; lactobacillus fermentum; pectin oligosaccharides; probiotic activity.