Preparation and Evaluation of Ready to Serve Beverage from Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) var. Sathgudi

Citrus consists of a group of fruits belonging to the family Rutaceae. The citrus fruits represent the third largest fruit industry of India next to the mango and banana. The sweet orange which in the English language denotes the tight skinned orange (Citrus sinensis) is indigenous to China. It is believed to have been introduced into South India. The area under citrus fruits cultivation was 846.0 thousand hectares which is about 13.3% of total area under fruits and the total production was about 7, 464.0 thousand MT which accounts to 10% of total fruit production with productivity of 8.8MT/ha. The post harvest handling losses of Citrus fruits are 5–10 percent in most developed countries and 25–30 per cent in developing countries. Citrus fruits are well known for their refreshing fragrance, thirst quenching ability and providing adequate vitamin C as per recommended dietary allowance. Phytochemicals which play the role of neutraceuticals, such as carotenoids (Lycopene and â-carotene), limonoids, flavanones (Naringins and rutinoside) and vitamin-B complex (Ladaniya, 2008). Hence the experiment "Preparation and evaluation of RTS beverage from sweet orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) var. Sathgudi was conducted" at College of Horticulture, Rajendranagar, Rangareddy district.