Cereal Chem. 73 (5):574-578  |  VIEW ARTICLE

Nonwheat Grains and Products

Laboratory Dry-Milling Performance of White Corn: Effect of Physical and Chemical Corn Characteristics (1).

Jian Yuan (2) and Rolando A. Flores (3). (1) Journal paper No. J-16737 of the Iowa Agricultural and Home Economic Experiment Station, Ames, IA. Project No. 3326. (2) Graduate research assistant, Department of Grain Science and Industry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506; formerly at the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011. (3) Associate professor, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University, Ames. Corresponding author. Fax 913/532-7010. Accepted June 16, 1996. Copyright 1996 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Thirty-two hybrids of white dent corn were evaluated for physical and chemical properties and dry-milling yields. The physical properties studied included true density, test weight, and 100-kernel weight. The chemical composition evaluated consisted of protein, oil, and starch content. The corn samples tested were processed using a short dry-milling procedure. A micromilling method was used to evaluate the dry-milling efficiency. Over 93% of the white corn flaking grits yields were greater than 20%, and half of the flaking grits yields were greater than 30%. Large variations were found in the ratios of hard to soft and endosperm to bran, indicating that some of the hybrids had a much larger portion of hard endosperm in the endosperm. Micromilling could provide an index of the efficiency of the dry-milling test. Protein content, true density, and the ratios of hard to soft and endosperm to bran showed high correlation with dry-milling yields. A linear relationship was found between protein content of white corn and the flaking grits yield.