Comparison between purple corn (Zea Mays L.) half-sib families from Argentina: phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties

MANSILLA PABLO; SCIARINI L; BUSTOS MC; NAZAR MARIA CRISTINA; PEREZ, GABRIELA T.

Ciudad de México

Congreso; 4° Latin American Cereal Conference and International Gluten Workshop (LACC4 & IGW).; 2018

ICC International Association for Cereal Science and Technology

The objective of this study was to characterize agronomically eight half-sib families of purple corn adapted to central Argentina and to compare their total phenolic compound content and antioxidant activity. Eight half-sib families were selected from original germplasm (POr) from CIMMYT, Peru and Bolivia, and their progenies were grown during two cycles (2013-2014 and 2014-2015). The genotypes were agronomically characterized; centesimal composition, in vitro protein digestibility (PD), total polyphenol (TPF) content, total anthocyanin (AN) content and antioxidant capacity (AC) through Ferric-reducing ability(FRA), and ABTS?+ radical cation scavenging activity (RCSA) were determined from whole grain flour. Hard white corn (BL), popcorn (PS) and opaque-2 (O2) maize flours were used as controls. The results were statistically analyzed by linear mixed models (MLM), analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson correlation (p ﹤0.05). Field yields showed significant differences between purple corn progenies (from 16.6 to 46.5 q∕ha in 2014 and from 14.4 to 60.4 q∕ha in 2015). TPF and AN showed a wide range of variation between genotypes (from 439 to 1934 mg gallic acid∕100g and from 88 to 291 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside∕100g, respectively); they were strongly correlated (r=0.89). Progenies that presented the highest TPF and AN showed the highest AC (from 53.6 to 233 of FRA and from 14 to 55 μmol TROLOX∕g of RCSA), surpassing initial genetic material (POr) and controls. The genetic variance represented the greatest contribution to the total variability (﹥70%) in TPF, AN and AC indicating a strong effect of genotype in these characteristics. The differences between the individual progenies will allow us to identify agronomically adapted genotypes with higher PF and AC and to continue with a new recurrent selection cycle to obtain varieties with improved bioactive compound content and high antioxidant capacity.