Technological assessment of the quality of flour from diploid and tetraploid maize accessions

Background. According to the 2023 report of the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), the global maize flour market has been growing by 5.85% annually over the past five years. This positive trend is driven by the increased popularity of gluten-free products and innovative advances in maize cultivation and processing technologies.

Materials and methods. Ten accessions of six maize subspecies with diploid and tetraploid genomes from the VIR collection were analyzed. Bread wheat accessions with medium and poor flour quality were selected to assess the effect of the maize component on the technological properties of composite flour. Sedimentation analysis was used to evaluate technological properties of the grain protein complex in maize. The carbohydrate complex was determined by the falling number using a Brabender Micro Visco-Amylo-Graph. Biochemical composition of maize grain was quantified with a SupNIR-2750 analyzer (China). Statistical data processing was performed using Statistica 10.0 software from StatSoft Russia (2023).

Results. The studied maize subspecies manifested differences in particle size distribution, swelling potential of flour particles, starch thermodynamics, the degree and nature of the impact on the wheat component during combined processing at the level of the rheology of gluten, dough and paste, as well as bread baking. Strengthening of the protein complex and suppression of enzymatic processes were shown. Waxy maize was found to have an improving effect on the composite wheat-maize dough. Promising accessions were also identified for flour, cereal and feed uses. Sweet maize accessions were the most inert during combined processing with wheat grain.

Conclusion. The differences in technological properties, revealed among the tested accessions and within technological groups, make it possible to perform selection breeding for these properties.

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