Cereal Chem 69:191-197   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Relations of Grain Proximate Composition and Physical Properties to Wet-Milling Characteristics of Maize.

S. R. Fox, L. A. Johnson, C. R. Hurburgh, Jr., C. R. Dorsey-Redding, and T. B. Bailey. Copyright 1992 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The relations of proximate compositions and physical properties of 27 maize hybrids to laboratory wet- milling characteristics were determined. No single trait accounted for more than 40% of the variation (r2) in starch yield or more than 60% of the variation in protein content of the recovered starch. Merely having higher starch content in the kernel did not increase starch yelds (r = 0.20). Hybrids with lower protein contents (r = -0.63) and higher 1,000-grain weights (r = 0.43) yielded more starch, whereas hybrids with higher protein contents (r = 0.77) and harder endosperms (r = 0.58) gave higher residual protein contents of recovered starch. The best models for predicting starch yields included grain protein content and any one of the following: test weight, absolute density, kernel hardness (Stenvert sample height), or water absorptivity (index or initial rate). The preferred model for starch yield (percentage of starch yield = 58.2 - 3.6 [percentage grain protein] + .05 [test weight]) accounted for 61% of the variation. Protein content in starch was a function of grain protein and o il contents. The preferred model for protein content of recovered starch (percentage of protein in starch = -1.28 + 0.23 [percentage grain protein]) + 0.13 [percentage grain oil]) accounted for 66% of the observed variation.