Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Flours from Three Purple Maize Varieties Named “Violet de Katiola” in Côte d’Ivoire

Aims: The study examined the proximate composition and functional properties of flours from three purple maize varieties from Côte d’Ivoire with a view to exploring their potential uses in food and non-food applications.

Study Design: Three different purple maize varieties were grown on different experimental plots and the harvested dry maize kernels were processed into flours to determine their physicochemical and functional characteristics.

Place and Duration of Study: The study took place at the Biotechnology Laboratory of Felix Houphouët-Boigny University. May to December 2017.

Methodology: After collecting dry maize kernels from experimental plots they were processed into maize flour. Physicochemical composition and functional properties were investigated using standard methods. The yellow corn variety was used as a control in this study.

Results: The results reveal that purple corn flours had highest in protein (ranging from 9.72 to 10.09 g/100 g) and fat (ranging from 5.87 to 6.21 g/100 g) contents as well as energy value (ranging from 380.66 to 384.04 kcal/100 g) while carbohydrate and starch contents were found to be highest in yellow corn flour with values of 77.85 and 67.27 g/100 g, respectively. Mineral composition showed that the consumption of 100 g of flours from purple corn would provide about 32% of the Recommended Dietary Allowances of iron. Also, purple corn samples contain higher total phenolic compounds (232.14 – 253.80 mg/ 100 g) compared to yellow corn variety (116.51 mg/ 100 g). These total polyphenols were mainly constituted of anthocyanins (135.87 – 178.54 mg/ 100 g). Therefore, they exhibited a good antioxidant activity (69.22%) Concerning the functional properties of flours from purple and yellow maize, there was no significant difference. These flours recorded high bulk density, dispersibility and oil absorption capacity as well as good wettability and foam stability.

Conclusion: purple maize varieties recorded a good antioxidant activity related to their content of polyphenolic compounds. This suggests their potential health benefits like in prevention of many metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases. These corn varieties have also exhibited interesting functional properties, therefore, would be suitable for use as a functional ingredient in many food formulations.