DisplayTitle

Evaluation of Quality Factors in Argentine Maize Races¹

¹Partially supported by Project 80-017 of Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (Pergamino, Argentina). ²Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuria (EEA Pergamino-INTA), C.C. 31, 2700 Pergamino (BA), Argentina. ³Biomaterials Processing Research, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, 1815 N. University, Peoria, IL 61604. Names are necessary to report factually on available data; however, the USDA neither guarantees nor warrants the standard of the product, and the use of the name by USDA implies no approval of the product to the exclusion of others that may also be suitable.

Samples of Argentine maize from 12 landraces were analyzed for starch and amylose content and were evaluated for hardness parameters. Amylose contents of these Argentine landraces were generally higher than for typical dent hybrids grown in the United States. Hardness, as estimated by near-infrared reflectance; from wavelength shift of the near-infrared transmittance spectrum absorbance maximum (λ_max) in the 610–680 nm region; and by percentage of γ-zein in zein-2 (determined by reversed-phase HPLC), correlated well with classical definitions of endosperm type and with amylose content. Starch content correlated negatively with hardness. Flint landraces varied substantially in amylose and starch content. The strong correlation between amylose content and maize endosperm hardness confirms and strengthens previous observations, and may provide a compositional basis for endosperm quality.