关键词: 玉米, 烟酸, 玉米黄质

Abstract: Microbiological method and spectrophotometric method were separately used to determine the contents of niacin and zeaxanthin in kernels of 123 inbred lines from 3 200 maize inbred lines to study the effect of maize type, kernel color and kernel type on maize niacin content and zeaxanthin content as well as their correlation. The results showed that the niacin content of maize was 0.57-4.80 mg/100 g, the niacin content of waxy maize was much higher than that of normal maize, the niacin content of white maize was higher than that of yellow maize, and the content of purple maize was between the contents of white maize and yellow maize. The significant differences of niacin contents did not exist among different kernel types and among different kernel types within same kernel color. The zeaxanthin content of maize was 0.35-4.03 mg/kg. The zeaxanthin content of waxy maize was much lower than that of normal maize. The zeaxanthin content of white maize was lower than that of yellow maize while the zeaxanthin content of purple maize was between the contents of white maize and yellow maize. The significant differences of zeaxanthin contents did not exist among different kernel types and among different kernel types within same kernel color. These results indicated that the different maize types and kernel colors of maize significantly affected the niacin content and zeaxanthin content, whereas the maize effect of kernel type and interaction effect of kernel type and kernel color were not significant. Moreover, there was a significant moderate negative correlation between niacin content and zeaxanthin content in maize (r=－0.361**), which means that the higher of the niacin content, the lower of the zeaxanthin content. These results could provide a reference for the reasonable application of maize kernels and the improvement of maize breeding.

Key words: maize, niacin, zeaxanthin