Cereal Chem 41:47 - 57.  |  VIEW ARTICLE

The Effect of Excessive Heat During Artificial Drying of Corn on Reducing Sugar Content and Diastatic Activity.

R. C. French and C. H. Kingsolver. Copyright 1964 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Among the chemical and physical properties of the corn grain examined as possible indices of damage by high temperatures during artificial drying, diastase activity was the property having the greatest differential between unheated samples and samples dried at 200 F. Diastase activity showed an inverse linear correlation with increasing drying temperatures, significant at the l% level. Diastase activity was more sensitive to inactivation by heat than esterase activity or dehydrogenase activity as measured by tetrazolium salts, but varietal differences, time of harvest, and differences in growing conditions appear to make it not accurate enough for predicting heat-damage in the samples. Diastase activity of dried grain was not greatly affected by grain moisture in the range of 7 to 2l%. High drying temperatures and early harvest favored accumulation of reducing sugars in some samples tested.