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Starch analysis of self-pollinated and open-pollinated common corn in Taiwan
I. HSIEH (1), Y. Chen (2), S. Jeng (3), G. Shieh (2), H. Lai (4) (1) Department of Agricultural Chemistry, , Taiwan; (2) Division of Crop Science, Taiwan Agriculture Research Institute, , Taiwan; (3) Institute of Plant Biology, National Taiwan University, , Taiwan; (4) Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, , Taiwan.

Recently, the common corn is promoted to be cultivated in Taiwan by Council of Agriculture (COA), Taiwan, under two chief considerations of adjusting farming system to revitalize farmland and elevating country’s food security. In this study, the physicochemical properties of the self-pollinated and open-pollinated maize seeds of four most popular common corn varieties (Tainug No. 1 (TNG1), Tainan No. 24 (TNA24), Ming-Fong No. 3 (MF3) and Ming-Fong No. 103 (MF103) are analyzed. The results found that the self-pollinated TN1 and Tn24 have higher contents of amylose and crude fat than MF3 and MF103. The thermal and pasting properties of TNG1 are significantly different from the others but there is no specific relationship among the open-pollinated maize seeds. The highest peak and final viscosities of TNG1 starch suspension are attributed to it’s the highest content of amylose and the largest of averaged molecular weight. The lower pasting temperatures (including onset, peak and conclusion temperatures) and enthalpy (?H) of TNG1 starch suspension are related to its fine structure of amylopectin; that is, the TN1 has more short chains and larger ratio of short chains (DP 6-24) to long chains (DP?25). As a result, the controlling and keeping the characteristic physicochemical properties of starch from the specific corn cultivar is very important and should be taken into consideration when the cultivation of common corn for food applications is promoted.