Abstract

SALINAS MORENO, Yolanda; SAAVEDRA ARELLANO, Salvador; SORIA RUIZ, Jesús  and  ESPINOSA TRUJILLO, Edgar. Physicochemical characteristics and carotenoid content in yellow corn (Zea mays L.) grown in the State of Mexico. Agric. Téc. Méx [online]. 2008, vol.34, n.3, pp.357-364. ISSN 0568-2517.

In Mexico there is a low number of studies in relation to the characterization of yellow corn kernel populations cultivated in different regions of the country. The objectives were to analyze the physicochemical characteristics and to determine the relationship of carotenoid content with grain and flour color in different populations of yellow corn. In the study, we included 19 native populations from the State of Mexico collected during 2005 and 2006, four samples of the commercial breed variety "Ultra", three experimental varieties and four samples of yellow corn imported from USA. Grain of native populations was softer, of larger size and higher oil content than the rest of the genotypes; they have the lowest carotenoid content. In average, bred variety Ultra and the experimental varieties showed similar carotenoid content than that of the imported corn samples. Carotenoid content show a positive Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.83 (p< 0.01) with the Hunter-Lab parameter b* (yellow axis) of the dry raw flour.

Keywords : corn landraces; chemical composition; grain color; yellow pigment.

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