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Effects of Maturity on Grain Quality and Wet-Milling Properties of Two Selected Corn Hybrids

¹Proliant Inc., 2325 North Loop Drive, Ames, IA 50010. ²Associate professor, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011. ³Corresponding author. E-mail: dmyers@iastate.edu. ⁴Professor-in-charge, Center for Crops Utilization Research, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011. ⁵Research geneticist, USDA-ARS, Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011.

The effects of maturity on grain quality and wet-milling properties were investigated for two hybrids of corn. Significant differences for hybrid and maturity were observed for all grain quality parameters. Test weight, absolute density, and thousand-grain weight all increased as the corn matured. Kernel hardness increased and breakage susceptibility varied with increased maturity. Water uptake parameters decreased with maturity of the grain. The starch yield results from wet milling showed that the starch yield increased significantly within each cultivar in the early stages of grain maturity, but there were no significant differences between hybrids. Mathematical models using selected grain quality parameters accurately predicted trends in starch yield for the immature and mature corn samples in this study.