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Antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of sweet corn hybrids during maturation

Phenolics are the most widespread secondary metabolites in the plant and have taken much attention as potential natural antioxidants in terms of their abilities to act as efficient radical scavengers and metal chelators. The plant material used in this study were ten early maturing su sweet corn hybrids, created at the Agricultural institute Osijek. The field trials were set up in 2009 and included two replicates of hybrids arranged in a randomized complete block design. Cobs were hand harvested 17, 19, 21, 23 and 25 day after controlled pollination. Total phenols and antioxidative activity were determined spectrophotometrically, after ultrasound extraction of lyophilized sweet corn grain with acidified methanol. Significant difference between sweet corn hybrids and harvest date for both investigated traits was found. Results revealed that during maturation of sweet corn grains, total phenolic content decreased whereas the reverse was found for antioxidant activity determined by DPPH assay. The highest amount of total phenolic was observed on the first day of harvest for all hybrids, and for the Os 244 su hybrid it was 372.68 mg of gallic acid equivalents/100g. The maturation resulted in an increase of antioxidant activity up to 38% in relation of the value determined in the first harvest date.

sweet corn; maturation; total phenolics content; antioxidant activity

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