CARACTERIZAÇÃO DE VARIEDADES DE MILHO CRIOULO CULTIVADAS NA REGIÃO DOS CAMPOS GERAIS PARA UTILIZAÇÃO AGROINDUSTRIAL

Abstract

The corn crop is one of the most important of Brazil in relation to the amount produced yearly and its destination. It has great commercial importance in animal nutrition and also in the food industry. Every year farmers search for higher agricultural yields, having as main partner the breeding programs. Regarding this aspect, the rescuing of corn landraces is of fundamental importance, as they show great genetic variability, as well as present very good adaptation to the environmental conditions from where they come from. Therefore, this work has the objective of characterizing twenty corn landraces planted in the Campos Gerais region (Paraná State) in relation to its chemical composition (moisture, ash, protein, lipid, dietary fiber and starch) and physical properties (1000 kernels weight, real density, flotation index, granulometry after milling and color). Besides that, also the lab scale processing of the kernels from the varieties was done for producing starch; starch purity was evaluated by measuring its protein contamination. Apparent amylose, total amylose, amylopectin, amylose-lipid complex were also evaluated. Analysis of variance identified significant differences between the varieties studied in relation to the levels of protein, lipid, dietary fiber, starch, 1000 kernels weight, flotation index, color and granulometry after milling (coarse and intermediate size particles). The tests performed in starch, the total amylose and amylopectin contents, peak viscosity, final viscosity, hot pasta viscosity, breakdown, pasting onset temperature and setback also differed significantly among varieties. Some factors influenced the viscoamilography profile as the flotation index, real density and amylose complexed with lipids. The results showed the physical properties of corn grains like flotation index, real density and particle size distribution are important parameters for classifying endosperm hardness that was correlated with physicochemical characteristics.