Nutrimental and biochemical characterization of the kernel from white corn single crosses

Abstract

Our research focused on the characterization of the nutritional and biochemical content of 25 genotypes: 5 S₄ inbred lines and the 20 possible single crosses formed between them, due to the lack of knowledge about the nutritional composition and its variation within the germplasm of the white corn breeding program. In kernels of each genotype we determined the content of oil, starch, protein, ash and phytic acid. Results showed that for the parents and the crosses, correspondingly, the intervals of the substances under study were: a) Oil: from 5.99 to 3.84 and 6.40 to 3.55 g ? 100 g^-1, b) Protein:  from 8.26 to 5.43 and 9.83 to 5.56 g ? 100 g^-1, c) Starch: from 88.25 to 74.48 and 96.64 to 72.57 g ? 100 g^-1, d) Ash: from 1.90 to 1.20 and 2.0 to 0.89 g ? 100 g^-1, e) Phytic acid: from 2.40 to 1.08 and 2.29 to 1.11 g ? 100 g^-1. We observed that in comparison to the parents, the crosses only were significantly superior in the content of starch; although, within each group there were statistical differences of the contents. The crosses that showed higher contents for a nutritional component were those in which at least one parent had a high composition of the nutrient. The variation in the nutritional and biochemical content showed that there is diversity among genotypes, which is linked to the contrasting genetic origin of the inbred lines and is feasible to be used. This research showed the potential of taking advantage of the nutritional components of white corn through crosses (specially its starch content).