Anthocyanins content in the kernel and corncob of Mexican purple corn populations

Abstract

Purple corn has acquired a great interest by its high content of nthocyanins and bioactive properties. Among this type of corn the Andean purple corn has been the most studied, however, in Mexico, we have the “maíces morados”, which is recognized by its dark purple color. Since there is no record about its content of anthocyanins, in this study we quantified the total anthocyanins (TA) accumulated in the pericarp, aleurone layer, kernel, and corncob of 52 corn populations with different grades of pigmentation. Results showed that TA was superior in purple corn than in blue and red corn. TA ranged from 0.0044 to 0.0523 g of TA ∙ 100 g-1 of biomass in the aleurone layer; in the pericarp from 0.2529 to 2.6452 g of TA ∙ 100 g-1 of pericarp; in the kernel from 0.0398 to 0.2398 g of TA 100 g-1 of kernel and in the corncob from 0.1004 to 1.1022 g of TA ∙ 100 g-1 of corncob. Although a dark color of the kernel and corncob indicated a high concentration of anthocyanins, we observed that the distribution, hue, and color intensity in the aleurone layer, pericarp, and corncob, influenced the concentration of anthocyanins in each structure.