Natasha Gurung^1,, Sanjay Kumar Singh², Sujit Sarkar¹, Dwijendra Barman¹, Bijoy Singh¹

Our current lifestyle has encountered free radicals and toxic metabolites in our bodies. Free radicals have been reported to be responsible for several diseases. Citrus juices contain biologically active compounds which possess antioxidant activity. They are essential components of functional food. Darjeeling mandarin is an important crop grown in Darjeeling and Kalimpong District of West Bengal and needs compositional analyses The present investigation was undertaken to study the genetic variability in Darjeeling mandarin in terms of fruit biochemical compounds with respect to Total phenols and antioxidants. Significant differences were obtained in terms of Total Soluble Solids (TSS) which was found to be the highest in DS (12.00 ⁰B) and lowest in 8.5 Mile (8.51 ⁰B). The total acidity of the mandarin juice ranged from 0.46 % to 0.82 %. The total phenolic content was highest in SM 68.53 ± 6.66 µg GAE/ml to lowest in 8.5 Mile 38.29 ± 0.89 µg GAE/ml. The Antioxidant activities through DPPH, FRAP, and ABTS assay recorded highest 173.70 µg VCE/ml, 13.47 nmol/ml, 86.60 µM VCE/ml juice in Lower Bong Busty (SM) while Bong Busty (DK) recorded the lowest antioxidant through DPPH 0.43±0.05 µg VCE/ml, FRAP 9.86±0.65 nmol/ml and ABTS 85.62±0.89 µM VCE/ml juice.

ABTS, antioxidant activity, Darjeeling mandarin, DPPH, FRAP Total Acidity, Total flavonoids content, Total phenol content, Total Soluble Solids