Wet‐Milling Characteristics of 10 Lines from Germplasm Enhancement of Maize Project Compared with Five Corn Belt Lines

Abstract

The use of corn (Zea mays L.) hybrids with high grain yield and starch extractability has steadily increased in the processing industry. In light of widespread corn seed industry participation in the Germplasm Enhancement of Maize Project (GEM), which seeks to enhance exotic germplasm, future hybrids may contain more exotic sources in genetic backgrounds. It is necessary to establish and monitor physical, compositional, and milling characteristics of the new exotic breeding materials to determine the processing value. The present study was conducted to determine the wet‐milling characteristics of a set of GEM lines compared with typical Corn Belt lines. Ten GEM lines introgressed with exotic materials from Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Florida, and Uruguay and previously identified as having different starch yields, three commercial inbred lines, and two public inbred lines (B73 and Mo17) were analyzed using both near‐infrared transmittance (NIT) and a 100‐g wet‐milling procedure. There were statistical differences (P < 0.05) in the yield of wet‐milled fractions (starch, fiber, gluten, and germ). The GEM lines AR16035:S19‐227‐1‐B and CUBA117:S1520‐562‐1‐B had similar or better starch yield and starch recovery than B73 and the other adapted inbred lines, indicating that they may be useful in improving the proportion of extractable starch present in kernels of hybrids. Residual protein levels in the starch and gluten fractions were 0.26–0.32% and 38–45%, respectively. The starch yield of GEM lines from wet milling correlated positively with starch content from NIT and was negatively correlated with protein content of the corn kernels. Oil content in the germ varied from 50 to 60%. Our results indicate that incorporating GEM lines in a breeding program can maintain or even improve wet‐milling characteristics of Corn Belt materials if lines with appropriate traits are used.

Physical, chemical and wet‐milling properties of commercial white maize hybrids cultivated in México

“…However, industrial yields for steepwater solids (5%–10%) can be higher because industrial steep times can be considerably longer (30–48 hr) with more solids leached (Taboada‐Gaytan et al, ). The germ yields ranged from 3.08% to 10.05% (db) and were within the published range for other maize samples (Dowd, ; Fox et al, ; Milašinović et al, ; Mussolini et al, ; Singh et al, ; Taboada‐Gaytan et al, , ). Germ yields connote the ease of the separation of the germ at an industrial level, but do not necessarily represent the amount of this component in the maize kernel (Singh & Eckhoff, ).…”

“…Starch yields of wet‐milling of white and yellow (more) maize have been reported by various authors. Fox et al () reported a range of 50.9%–60.0% (db) for yellow maize hybrids, Taboada‐Gaytan et al () published a range of 55.1%–63.9% (db) for the Corn Belt lines, and Singh et al () measured a range of 47.8%–61.9% (db) for their samples. The Brazilian maize samples (Mussolini et al, ) ranged from 61.15% to 62.79% (db), the ZP hybrids (Milašinović, Radosavljević, Dokić, & Jakovljević, ) yielded a range of 58.8%–69.0% (db), and a range of 62.60%–70.17% (db) was obtained (Singh et al, ; Vignaux, Fox, & Johnson, ) for five Pioneer yellow maize hybrids.…”

“…Each maize sample (100 g) was steeped (52°C, 24 hr) in 180 ml of an acidified (lactic acid, 0.5%, w/w) sulfur dioxide (2,000 ppm) solution before the first grinding using a 3‐speed blender (Model Osterizer, Classic Blender, Oster, USA) with modified stainless steel blunt‐edged blades. After the germ plus coarse fiber washing stage, the degerminated slurry was reground (Plate mill, Model R‐14, Molinos Cabrera, México) and pumped (Peristaltic pump, Fisher Scientific, USA) at a rate of 50–52 ml/min to a tared aluminum channel (2.44 m long × 5.08 cm wide) placed over an inclined table to separate the starch (on the table) and protein fractions, as well as some water‐soluble proteins and small starch granules as overflows (Eckhoff et al, ; Singh et al, ;Taboada‐Gaytan et al, ). All recovered fractions were dried (Figure ) by a two‐step oven procedure based on AACC International Approved Methods 44‐15.02 and 44‐19.01 (AACC, ).…”

“…Starch yields in wet‐milling is affected by several factors, including maize genotype, growing environment and post‐harvest handling and storage conditions (Malumba et al, ; Singh & Eckhoff, ). The genotype and/or environment effect on wet‐milling properties has been studied in yellow maize hybrids (Fox, Johnson, Hurburgh, Dorsey‐Redding, & Bailey, ; Milašinović, Radosavljević, Dokić, & Jakovljević, ; Mussolini, Lopes Filho, & Duarte, ; Uriarte‐Aceves, Sopade, & Rangel‐Peraza, in press), Corn Belt lines (Taboada‐Gaytan, Pollak, Johnson, & Fox, ), experimental maize crosses (Taboada‐Gaytan, Pollak, Johnson, Fox, & Montgomery, ), maize accessions from the Germplasm Enhancement of Maize (GEM) project (Singh, Johnson, Pollak, & Hurburgh, ; Taboada‐Gaytan et al, ), and purple and blue maize (Somavat, Li, de Mejia, Liu, & Singh, ; Uriarte‐Aceves et al, ). However, comparatively in‐depth studies on white maize are required to build the required knowledge on all the maize variants.…”

Physical, Compositional, and Wet Milling Characteristics of Grain from Crosses of Corn Inbreds with Exotic and Nonexotic Background

“…As described in our previous studies (Taboada-Gaytan et al 2009, 2010, 10 GEM lines of five germplasm sources, each source represented by a relatively high and low starch yield line from a wetmilling screening done by the private GEM cooperator Cerestar (Hammond, IN; now acquired by Cargill, Minneapolis, MN) were selected. The lines had 50% or 25% exotic genetic background from Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Florida, and Uruguay and were grouped according to starch yield from wet milling as high-starch exotic lines (HSEL): AR16035:S19-285-1-B (AR285), CH05015: N15-182-1-B (CH182), CUBA117:S1520-562-1-B (CU562), FS8B(T): N1802-35-1-B (FS35), and UR13085:N0215-11-1-B (UR11); and low-starch exotic lines (LSEL):AR16035:S19-227-1-B (AR227), CH05015:N15 -143-1-B (CH143), CUBA117: S1520-153-1-B (CU153), FS8B(T):N1802-32-1-B (FS32), and UR13085:N0215-14-1-B (UR14).…”