ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the Role of Plant Phytochemical Diversity in Biodiversity and BeyondView all articles
From Byproduct to Bioactive: Genetic Profiling, GC-MS, and Nutritional Analysis of Citrus Peel Extracts for Nutraceutical Development
Provisionally accepted
Dr Om Prakash1,2*
Divya Kushwaha1
Kahkashan Perveen3
Shaista Arzoo3
Saurabh Gangola4*
Vijay Kumar Juyal2Shifa Khan5Vivekananda .2- 1Regional Ayurveda Research Institute, Gwalior, India
- 2Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, India
- 3King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 4Department of Biotechnology, Graphic Era (Deemed to Be University), Dehradun, India
- 5University of Scranton, Scranton, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The phytochemical, nutritional, and therapeutic qualities of citrus species (Rutaceae) make them significant on a global scale. Despite having a wealth of bioactive compounds with significant commercial and nutraceutical potential, citrus by-products, including peels, seeds, and pulp, are routinely discarded in large amounts. In this study, we examine the nutritional composition, elemental diversity, metabolite profile, and genetic variability of citrus species collected from various regions of Uttarakhand, India. Citrus peels are a good source of calcium (up to 104.10mg/100 g), zinc (58.3 mg/100 g), manganese (22.1 mg/100 g) and so on, as well as proteins (12.00±0.11a), reducing and non-reducing sugar (136.45±.001a and 26.53±S1.123a), and vitamin C (65.56±0.23a), according to elemental and nutritional analyses. On GC analysis, more than 45 bioactive compounds were identified, including rutin, limonene, linoelaidic acid, and palmitic acid. Citrus jambhiri (Almora) has the highest (51) phytochemicals, whereas Citrus sinensis (Pithoragarh) exhibits the lowest (27) phytochemicals.On genetic analysis, the accessions' great diversity was further highlighted by a genetic analysis using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers, which showed grouping patterns related to species and geographic origin. Integrating biochemical, metabolite, and genetic data reveals a strong genotype–environment interaction that influences the nutritional and nutraceutical properties of citrus species. The study provides information that can aid in the development of functional foods, pharmaceutical applications, and crop enhancement methods while highlighting the potential of citrus by-products as sustainable sources of valuable bioactive compounds.
Keywords: UV-visible spectroscopy, citrus residues, Vitamin-C, neutraceuticals, genetic analysis, GC-MS
Received: 11 Sep 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Prakash, Kushwaha, Perveen, Arzoo, Gangola, Kumar Juyal, Khan and .. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Dr Om Prakash, ompchausali@gmail.com
Saurabh Gangola, saindsaurabh@gmail.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.