Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc; Zingiberaceae family) is an herb commonly used as a spice and remedy for a broad spectrum of diseases. The essential oil extracted from ginger is an effective antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antifungal agent. The present study has investigated the variations in yield and chemical composition of essential oils of two cultivars (Chinese and Thailand) of ginger locally available in Pakistan. Two different drying pretreatments were employed to observe the changes in compositional variations of the essential oils of ginger. The essential oil extracted from fresh, oven-dried, and sun-dried samples of two different cultivars of ginger was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The essential oil yield was found to be highest for the sun-dried sample of each variety. The major compounds (>4%) overall in the essential oil of fresh, oven-dried, and sun-dried ginger samples from Thailand origin were camphene, 3-carene, o-cymene, caryophyllene, α-curcumene, sabinol trans, citral, and santalol. Major compounds overall in the essential oil of fresh, oven-dried, and sun-dried ginger samples of Chinese origin were α-pinene, Camphene, limonene, longicyclene, copaene, longifolene, β-sesquiphellandrene, alloaromadendrene, γ-muurolene, α-curcumene, α-farnesene, and citral. The inter-varietal variations and pretreatment methods considerably affected yield and chemical composition. Cluster analysis was performed to validate the results further. Significantly varying compounds responsible for the significant variation among varieties and treatments of the ginger were identifies by using the heat map. There was clear differentiation among Chinese and Thailand varieties due to the variation in the concentrations of the volatile compounds. The results obtained can be helpful for the ginger growers and end users to choose the ginger variety and the way of use that is more beneficial.

The conversion of agro-industrial waste into value-added products has attracted the attention of the scientific community. Pectin is an extensively used by-product of agricultural waste and has many applications. The present research used pomegranate peel for the extraction of pectin and explored its antioxidant properties. Pectin from Punica granatum peel was extracted with the help of a feasible, low-cost, and ecofriendly acidified extraction method using ethanol as an extraction solvent. The yield of the pectin with ethanol was found to be 19.1%. The extracted pectin was chemically modified using the amidation method. The structural characterization of the extracted and modified pectin was carried out using the SEM (for morphology), FTIR (for chemical bond and functional groups), EDX (for an elemental analysis), and XRD (for crystallinity) techniques. After confirming the modification of pectin, both the native and modified pectin were assessed for their antioxidant potential. The antioxidant properties of natively extracted pectin and modified pectin were evaluated against different types of free radicals with the help of a hydroxyl radical antioxidant assay, a DPPH radical scavenging assay, ferric-reducing antioxidant power, and a phosphomolybdenum assay. All the performed antioxidant assays revealed that the antioxidant activity of pectin was increased after modification through amidation. The findings could be very useful in obtaining pectin from the peel waste of Punica granatum and obtaining pectin with more bioactive potential via its chemical modification through an optimized method. This is also a step forward in achieving the goal of a sustainable environment. This study contributes to sustainable development by making use of the wasted peels of pomegranate and extracting bioactive pectin at the same time.