PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY CHARACTERISTICS OF CORN CULTIVARS TO BABYCORN PRODUCTION

Baby corn is the name given to the young corn-cob when the ear has not been fertilized yet. Several sweet, popcorn and high yield cultivars selected from regular maize have been chosen for baby corn production. There is few information about baby corn production and performance in Brazil, its nutritional values, as well as its processing and storage techniques. The objective of this work was to determine physical and chemical parameters of baby corn. An experiment was established in the research area of the Agricultural Department of Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), at Lavras, MG, Brazil. To determine physical and chemical characteres of baby corn a sample was obtained of each cultivar. Three baby corn harvesting were performed at 3-days interval with the first occurring 3 days from style-stigma emission (65 days after sowing). The aproximate chemical composition, the contents of sugar, vitamin C, fenolics compound and indicators of the quality were determined. The physical and chemical characteres of baby corn were similar to those reported in the literature for normal corn.