Effects of high amylopectin (waxy1) and high-quality protein (opaque2) maize mutants in agronomic performance and bakery quality

Abstract

Maize is used in bakery and gluten free food for celiac patients. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of maize mutants with high-amylopectin (waxy1) or quality protein (opaque2) in dough bread by using near-isogenic maize hybrids for waxy1 (wx1) and opaque2 (o2). Differences between wx1 and its wild type allele (Wx1) were significant more often than for o2. Agronomic performance was low for o2 and fair for wx1 hybrids. Among the meal traits, wx1decreased flotation, onset pasting temperature, maximum and final viscosity, trough, breakdown, total set back, and area under the apparent viscosity curve, and increased water binding capacity. Concerning bread traits, o2 had no significant mean effects, while wx1 increased reddish crumb color, retarded recovery elasticity and cohesiveness, and reduced hardness, chewiness and instant recovery speed. Therefore, we can use waxy maize for improving maize bread quality, and the choice of the maize genotype could significantly affect the final results.