**3. Results and discussion**

#### **3.1 Conventional lime juices (CLJ) and biodynamic organic lime juices (BLJ) yields**

The CLJ and BLJ yielded 52.60 and 44.65%, respectively, in accordance with the minimum yield of 42% recommended by Swisher & Swisher (2000) for citric juices. On the other hand, CLJ yield was significantly higher than that of BLJ (*P* < 0.05), possibly due to the higher percentage of peels in the BLJ samples. However, a yield of 47% was previously reported by Pedrão et al. (1999) for conventional lime juice, cv. *Tahiti*. Other factors may affect juice yield such as crops with high concentrations of nitrogen and potassium, leading to increased peel thickness, as well as relative humidity, and ambient temperature (Chitarra et al., 1990).

The maturity stage of the fruit also influences the yields of acid lime juice that have been observed, ranging from 55.60% in green fruit and 59.40% in ripe fruit (Ziena, 2000).
