The effect of different salt concentrations on corn storage

Abstract

Corn is one of the most widely grown cereal products worldwide, and it is an annually available plant from the Poaceae family (Orhun, 2013). Corn can be mostly cultivated with higher yields in mild temperature regions, and it is cultivable in various climatic regions. The world production amount of corn was 1125 million tons in 2019. It is also estimated that 21% of the corn production is consumed as food, and 65% of this amount is used as animal feed (Faostat, 2020). By this definition, corn is the main raw material of certain products such as starch, maltodextrins, oil, sugar syrups, and a little amount of corn is sufficent to be processed onto these products after harvesting. Most of the harvested corn is stored for direct consumption while it remains available for producing different food materials during the year. In addition, it can be largely stored under special circumstances such as war and natural disasters.Corn storage, as in other cereals storage processes, is defined as an effective preservative regarding the amount of grains and their biological, technological and nutritional quality, and economic value. The preservation of corn grains during storage period varies depending on various factors such as storage temperature, relative humidity, grain integrity, enzyme activity, and respiratory rate including insect and microorganism activity. For instance, unfavorable conditions during storage and long distance transportation routes of corn may cause the formation of germination, mold, and insect infestations. These undesirable biological alterations and activities result in off-flavor, mycotoxin formation, discoloration, grain texture deterioration, and dry matter loss. Perhaps more importantly, the formation of mycotoxins due to mold growth may