The relationship of the physicochemical properties of local maize grains with the physicochemical properties of the extracted starch

Abstract

This study was conducted at the laboratories of the Department of Food Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University, with the aim of determining the relationship between the physicochemical properties of maize kernels and the quality characteristics of the extracted starch. Two maize cultivars grown in two different regions were selected, and then the physicochemical properties of the grains and the extracted starch were evaluated according to the approved methods of AACC. This study showed the importance of the different physicochemical properties of maize grains with significant differences between the two studied cultivars within the two specified sites for all the studied indicators. The environmental factors, represented by the planting location, were responsible for the largest percentages of the effect on all quality indicators of the grains, and their effect was on the test weight, one thousand kernel weight, moisture, ash and protein (83.01, 75.17, 87.95, 53.25 and 71.21%) respectively. In addition, the study confirmed that the different physicochemical properties of maize kernels were directly responsible for the changes in the quality indicators of the extracted starch. On the other hand, the study of the correlation coefficients between the studied variables of the grains and the extracted starch showed that the differences in the physicochemical properties of the grains and their relationship with each other, and with the physicochemical properties of the extracted starch, constituted a complex relationship and contained a number of variables whose effect varied, negatively or positively, on the other variable. However, it was certain that they all form an integrated system that could not be separated from one another when studying the most valuable part for the wet milling of maize, which was the percentage of extracted starch.