CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF CORN HYBRIDS GRAIN OF DIFFERENT PIGMENTATION

The article presents the results of studies of the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of corn hybrids grain of different pigmentation, created in All Russian Research Scientific Institute of Corn (Pyatigorsk). We included kernels of yellow corn as control samples (Uralskiy 150 hybrid). Test kernel samples were differently pigmented: kernels of white color (White), of orange color with yellow tops (Orange), of brown color with yellow tops (Brown), with grey tops and light yellow sides (Grey), of purplish-red color (Rubin). Botanical studies of differently-colored corn kernels revealed that the kernel color depends on the outer layer (pericarp) pigmentation. It was shown that corn kernels Orange, Rubin, and Grey contained three groups of biologically active compounds: flavonoids: 80, 70, 73 mg/%, carotenoids: 2.40, 1.70, 1.60 mg/%, and anthocyanins: 30, 120, 30 mg/%, respectively. Corn kernel samples Orange and Rubin demonstrated high antioxidant activity (1.0 and 0.76 mg/l in gallic acid equivalents, respectively). Antioxidant activity of common yellow corn (Uralskiy 150 hybrid) amounted to 0.09 mg/l in gallic acid equivalent, which is about ten times less than in the test samples. Thus, presence of biologically active substances - carotenoids, flavonoids, and anthocyanins - in differently-pigmented corn kernels is correlated with high antioxidant activity. Our results suggest that corn kernels Orange and Rubin might be recommended for further use in food industry producing products with high content of biologically active compounds.