Evaluation of Chemical and Bioactive Components of Corn Silk Powder and its Application to Enhance Health and Improve The Nutritional Value of Egyptian Flat Bread

Abstract

: Corn silk (CS) a dried stigma of maize ( Zea mays ) female flowers also known as ( Maydis stigma ), inspite of its various nutritional components, it is still considered as a waste during corn processing. The present study is designed to estimate the chemical composition and bioactive components of five genotypes of corn silk grown in (El-Owaynate) in Egypt, also to develop value added products, where the flat Egyptian bread is the targeted product in the present study. Results showed variation in the proximate chemical composition of all genotypes where the moisture content varied between (4.09 and 5.37), the protein between (7.36 and 13.96), fat (1.88 and 4.83), ash (2.63 and 4.66), crude fiber (13.89 and 15.69), dietary fiber (49.46 and 51.35) and NFE (57.71 and 66.68). Results also revealed that CS genotypes B contained the highest anthocyanin and β – carotene content whereas, genotype D contained the highest vitamin C. The total phenolics in all types ranged between (2007.23 and 4312.34 μg/g), where genotype C is the highest in this respect. The flavonoids content were the highest in both type A and B being (362.61 and 312.31 μg/g) with no significant difference between them. All genotypes showed varied antioxidant activity measured by FRAP where both types D and E were the highest in this respect. As a matter of fact, the antioxidant activity measured by IC 50 showed that type E and B exhibited the highest activity. The sensory evaluation of flat Egyptian bread substituted with 4,6,8 % corn silk (genotype B) showed no significant differences between all parameters indicating that the 8 % substituted was very much liked as the control. Results of the proximate chemical composition and total phenolics and flavonoids of the 8% substituted bread with CS increased the nutritional value of the bread and enhanced the general health.