Food Chemistry 169 (2015) 424429

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Food Chemistry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem

Inuence of variety and harvest maturity on phytochemical content

in corn silk
Eakrin Sarepoua a, Ratchada Tangwongchai b, Bhalang Suriharn a,c, Kamol Lertrat a,c,
a

Department of Plant Science and Agricultural Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Technology, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
c
Plant Breeding Research Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, KhonKaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 9 April 2014
Received in revised form 7 July 2014
Accepted 30 July 2014
Available online 17 August 2014
Keywords:
Phenolic compounds
Flavonoid
Anthocyanin
Vegetable corn
Functional food

a b s t r a c t
Corn silk has been used as a traditional herb in Asia. The objective of this study was to evaluate variability
in phytochemicals in corn varieties at three maturity stages of corn silk. Ten vegetable corn varieties were
evaluated in a completely randomized design with three replications. Data were recorded for total
phenolic (TPC), total avonoids (TFC), total anthocyanin (TAC) and antioxidant activity (AA) by DPPH
free-radical-scavenging assays. Differences among corn varieties were observed for all parameters at
all maturity stages, and the interactions between maturity stage and corn variety were signicant. TPC
and TAC were highest at the milky stage, whereas TFC and AA were highest at the silking stage. TPC,
TFC and AA were highest in super sweet corn and white corn at the silking stage. PWC5 variety of purple
waxy corn at the milky stage had the highest values for all parameters, and it is useful for further development of functional food products.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Silk of corn (Zea mays L.) has been used as a herb for traditional
medicine by native Americans, Chinese and people in many parts
of the world. Phytochemicals in corn silk have antioxidant properties and are benecial for health. Therefore, it can be used as dietary bre and as a food additive for the prevention of several
diseases (Hasanudin, Hashim, & Mustafa, 2012). Corn silk is rich
in polyphenol compounds with strong free radical scavenging
activity, and it is a good source of natural antioxidants
(Nurhanan, Rosli, & Mohsin, 2012). Corn silk contains many bioactive compounds such as proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium salts, volatile oils and
steroids, alkaloids, avonoids and other phenolic compounds with
benecial effects on human health (Ebrahimzadeh, Pourmorad, &
Hafezi, 2008). Its potential antioxidant and healthcare applications
as a diuretic agent, in hyperglycemia reduction, as an antidepressant and for anti-fatigue use have been claimed in several
reports. Other uses of corn silk include teas and supplements to
treat urinary related problems. The potential use is very much
Corresponding author at: Department of Plant Science and Agricultural
Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002,
Thailand. Tel.: +66 43202696.
E-mail addresses: i.eak_@hotmail.com (E. Sarepoua), ratchada@kku.ac.th
(R. Tangwongchai), sphala@kku.ac.th (B. Suriharn), kamol9@gmail.com (K. Lertrat).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.07.136
0308-8146/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

related to its properties and mechanism of action of its plants bioactive constituents such as avonoids and terpenoids (Hasanudin
et al., 2012).
Corn silk is usually considered as waste and discarded during
processing of baby corn and super sweet corn products. Corn silk
provides natural colour and can be used as a food additive and avouring (Maksimovic, Malencic, & Kovacevic, 2005). For example,
corn silk powder is used as a food additive to improve the nutrient
content and physical characteristics of beef patties (Rosli,
Nurhanan, Solihah, & Mohsin, 2011). Corn silk can be utilised commercially as an ingredient to produce a wide variety of valueadded products such corn silk tea, snacks, cosmetics and
medicines.
Corn is consumed at different maturity stages. It can be used as
baby corn as a vegetable, immature corn, mature corn, and corn
silk. At these different maturity stages there may be a difference
in phytochemicals and antioxidant activity (Znidarcic, 2012). A
recent study showed that the total avonoid content of the butanol
fraction of corn silk extract is in good correlation with the total
phenolic content (Liu et al., 2011), and corn silk from upper parts
of ears (dark brown) had higher amounts of total phenolics, total
anthraquinones and total avonoids than the lower parts of ears
(Alam, 2011). Corn silk from baby corn had the highest yield and
corn silk from purple waxy corn had the highest content of total
phenolic, total avonoid and total anthocyanin (Sarepoua,
Tangwongchai, Suriharn, & Lertrat, 2013).

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E. Sarepoua et al. / Food Chemistry 169 (2015) 424429

The information on phytochemicals and antioxidant activity of

corn silk at different maturity stages is still lacking. The objectives
of this study were to evaluate the effects of maturity on total phenolic compounds, avonoid and anthocyanin contents of corn and
to identify corn varieties with high phytochemicals. This information will be useful in the commercial production of functional
foods using corn silk and exploitation of agricultural waste to produce value-added products.

Table 1
List of 10 varieties of Thai corn used in this study.
Entry
No.

2. Materials and methods

Varieties

Types of
corna

Silk
colourb

Kernel
colourc

Origin

PWC1

Purple waxy
corn

Purple

Purple

PWC2

Purple

Purple

PWC3

Purple

Purple

PWC4

Purple

Purple

PWC5

Purple

Purple

Khon Kaen
University
Khon Kaen
University
Khon Kaen
University
Khon Kaen
University
Pacic Seeds
(Thai) Ltd.

WWC1

Green

White

WWC2

Green

White

WWC3

Green

White

SSC1

Green

Yellow

10

SSC2

Green

Yellow

2.1. Plant materials and sample preparations

Ten corn hybrids including ve purple waxy corns, three white
waxy corns and two super sweet corns were selected because of
the differences in silk colours (Table 1). Silk colours and kernel colours were similar and varied from yellow-green, yellow-brown and
purple. Three types of corn were classied based on harvest times
at different maturity stages. Group 1 is baby corn which was harvested at the silking stage (710 days after anthesis) or R1. Group
2 is vegetable corn which was harvested at immature stages
(18 days after anthesis) or R4, and group 3, the corn for seed production, was harvested at the physiological maturity stage
(30 days after anthesis) or R6. The corn varieties were grown in a
Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications at
the Vegetable Farm, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
(18 510 N, 98 450 E, 200 masl) in the rainy season during May
to July 2012.
At anthesis, the ears were sib-pollinated to ensure good pollination of the ears, the ears were harvested at three maturity stages as
described above. The samples of corn silk were washed with distilled water and oven-dried at 60 C for 24 h until the samples
reached a nal moisture content of 10% (Hu, Zhang, Li, Ding, & Li,
2010). Dry samples were ground into powder using a grinder,
sealed in vacuum plastic bags and stored at below 20 C until
analysis. The ground samples were analysed for bioactives and
antioxidant activity in triplicates.
2.2. Extraction of phytochemicals from corn silk
Corn silk samples were extracted using a modied method
(Nurhanan et al., 2012). Briey, 3 g of corn silk powder was mixed
with 30 ml of 80% methanol in a ask and extracted at 70 C in a
water bath shaker (WB14/SV1422, GmbH Co. KG Memmert, Shanghai, China). After 1.5 h, the extract was ltrated through lter
paper Whatman No. 1 to remove the debris. The ltrate was evaporated using a rotary ash evaporator (Eyela SB-651, Kokusan
Enshinki Co., Tokyo, Japan) to remove the solvent. The residue
was reconstituted with 5 ml methanol and stored at 04 C until
analysis.
The extract was analysed on a UVVis spectrophotometer (10S,
Thermo Scientic Genesys, Australia) to determine total phenolic
content (TPC), total avonoid content (TFC), total anthocyanin
content (TAC), and antioxidant activity was analysed by DPPH
free-radical-scavenging activity assay.
2.3. Determination of total phenolic content
Total phenolic content was determined using the FolinCiocalteu colorimetric method and gallic acid was used as a standard (Liu
& Yao, 2007). FolinCiocalteu reagent was diluted with distilled
water at a ratio of 1:10. 0.5 ml of corn silk extract was mixed with
3 ml of the diluted FolinCiocalteu reagent and 2.5 ml of 0.2% (w/v)
Na2CO3 solution. The mixture was allowed to stand for 30 min at
room temperature (ca. 25 C) and the absorbance of the resulting

a
b
c

White waxy
corn

Super sweet
corn

Khon Kaen
University
Khon Kaen
University
Khon Kaen
University
Pacic Seeds
(Thai) Ltd.
Syngenta Seeds
Ltd.

Vegetable corn.
Colour of silk at milky stage.
Colour of kernel at milky stage.

solution was read at 750 nm using a spectrophotometer. The blank

consisted of all regents and solvents except for the sample. The
total phenolic content was determined using a standard calibration
curve and expressed as gallic acid equivalents per dry mass of corn
silk sample (lg GAE/g dried sample).
2.4. Determination of total avonoid contents
Total avonoid content was determined using a modied colorimetric aluminium chloride method and rutin hydrate was used as
a standard (Liu et al., 2011). Briey, 0.5 ml diluted corn silk extract
in 2.5 ml methanol was mixed with 3 ml of 0.01 M aluminium
chloride in methanol. Then the mixture was allowed to stand for
10 min at room temperature (ca. 25 C). The absorbance of the
resulting solution was read at 400 nm using a spectrophotometer.
The total avonoid content was determined using a rutin calibration curve at concentrations from 0-0.100 mg/ml in methanol
and expressed as rutin hydrate equivalents per dry mass of corn
silk sample (lg RE/g dried sample).
2.5. Determination of total anthocyanin content
Total anthocyanin content was determined according to the
pH-differential method (Ku, Kin, & Kang, 2009). Corn silk extract
from each sample was mixed with pH 1.5 buffers in 1% HCl to 6 ml
in methanol extract. After extracting at room temperature (ca.
25 C) for 20 min, absorbance was measured for each solution at
530 nm and 700 nm against blanks of pH 1.0 and 4.5 buffers. Total
anthocyanin content was determined by the following equation:

Total anthocyanin mg=L A  MW  1000  DF=e  1

where A was adjusted absorbance calculated from (A530A700) at
buffer 1.0  (A520A700) at buffer 4.5, 1000 was a converting
factor from molar to ppm, and DF was a dilution factor.
For a quantication of total anthocyanin content, external calibration was carried out for cyanidin-3-glucoside with molecular
weight (MW) of 449.2, and molar absorptivity of 1% HCl in methanol (e) was 34,300. The results were expressed as microgram of
cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalents per dry mass of corn silk sample
(lg C3G/g dried sample).

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E. Sarepoua et al. / Food Chemistry 169 (2015) 424429

2.6. Antioxidant activity assay

Antioxidant activity was measured using the DPPH free radical
scavenging activity assay (Liu et al., 2011). Initially, 0.2 ml of corn
silk extract was added to 1 ml of 0.2 mM freshly prepared DPPH
methanol solution. The reaction was mixed and allowed to stand
for 30 min under dark conditions. The control contained all
reagents except the extract fraction was used as blank. Absorbance
was read against a blank at 517 nm using a spectrophotometer. The
percentage inhibition of absorbance was calculated and plotted as
a function of the concentration of standard and corn silk extract to
determine the ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant concentration.
The percentage of DPPH radical scavenging activity (%) of sample
was calculated as follows:

DPPH radical scavenging activity %inhibition

1  A sample=A control  100
where A sample is the absorbance of the extract or standard and A
control is the absorbance of the control. All tests were run in duplicates and analyses of the samples were run in triplicates.
2.7. Statistical analysis
Analysis of variance was performed for each parameter according to a completely randomized block design, and least signicant
difference (LSD) was used to compare means at p < 0.05. Data were
expressed as mean standard deviation (SD) of three replication
analysis. All analyses were done in SPSS v19 (SPSS Inc., USA).

silking stage (R1) (110.7 lg GAE/g) and physiological maturity

stage (R6) (97.8 lg GAE/g), respectively (Table 6).
On average across three maturity stage, PWC5 had the highest
total phenolic content (189.1 lg GAE/g) followed by PWC3 (153.2
GAE/g) and PWC1 (150.8 lg GAE/g), respectively (Table 2). PWC5
was also the highest at milking stage (206.8 5.5 lg GAE/g). The
corn varieties with the lowest total phenolic content were
WWC3 (59.6 lg GAE/g) and WWC1 (61.2 lg GAE/g) of white waxy
corn. WWC1 was also the lowest at physiological maturity stage
(26.5 2.1 lg GAE/g).
Total avonoid contents ranging from 33.2 to 136.0 lg RE/g
dried samples were observed among corn varieties across three
maturity stages (Table 3). On average across corn varieties, silking
stage had the highest total avonoid content of 88.5 lg RE/g followed by milky stage (85.3 lg RE/g) and physiological maturity
stage (69.1 lg RE/g) (Table 6).
On average across the three maturity stages, PWC5 was the
highest for total avonoid content (119.6 lg RE/g) followed by
PWC4 (111.1 lg RE/g) and PWC1 (96.1 lg RE/g), respectively,
whereas WWC3, WWC2 and WWC1 had the lowest avonoid contents (52.3, 40.1 and 41.9 lg GAE/g, respectively) (Table 3). It is
clear that purple corns had the highest total avonoid content.
Super sweet corns were intermediate and white waxy corns were
the lowest.
PWC5 and PWC4 of purple waxy corn had the highest total avonoid content at the milky stage (R4) (136.0 2.2 and
129.2 3.2 lg RE/g, respectively), whereas WWC1 and WWC2 of
white waxy corn had the lowest total avonoid content at the
silking stage of 41.9 and 40.1 lg RE/g, respectively.
3.2. Total anthocyanin content

3. Results
3.1. Total phenolic content and total avonoid content
Total phenolic content ranging from 26.5 to 206.8 lg GAE/g of
dry samples was observed among corn varieties evaluated across
three maturity stages from silking to physiological maturity
(Table 2). Based on total phenolic content, corn varieties could be
roughly divided into a high or low group. The high group consisted
of all varieties in purple waxy corn with total phenolic content
higher than 100 lg GAE/g, and the low group comprised all corn
varieties in white waxy corn and super sweet corn with total phenolic content lower than 100 lg GAE/g.
Maturity stages were also different for total phenolic content.
On average across the three types of corn, milky stage (R4) had
the highest total phenolic content (121.3 lg GAE/g) followed by

Differences among corn varieties at three maturity stages were

signicant for total anthocyanin contents ranging from 0.3 to
63.4 lg C3G/g of dried samples (Table 4). On average across corn
varieties, silking stage had the highest total anthocyanin content
(27.9 lg C3G/g) followed by physiological maturity stage
(23.8 lg C3G/g) and milking stage (4.4 lg C3G/g), respectively
(Table 6).
Based on total anthocyanin content, corn varieties could be
clearly classied into a high and low group. The high group consisted PWC5, PWC1, PWC3, PWC2 and PWC4 in purple waxy corn
with total anthocyanin contents ranging from 23.9 to 46.0 lg C3G/
g, and low group included other varieties in white waxy corn and
super sweet corn (Table 4). PWC5 in purple waxy corn had the
highest total anthocyanin content at milking stage (63.4 1.7 lg
C3G/g) and physioligical maturity stage (62.7 1.7 lg C3G/g),

Table 2
Total phenolic content in silk of 10 corn varieties evaluated at different reproductive stages.
Type of corn

Varieties

Total phenolic content (lg GAE/g dried sample)

Silking stage (R1)

Milky stage (R4)

Maturity stage (R6)

Mean

123.8 3.8
112.8 2.1
127.0 2.7
115.6 2.2
173.4 2.6

179.6 3.2
169.2 2.4
185.3 1.9
147.7 3.3
206.8 5.5

149.1 2.6
114.7 3.1
147.4 2.8
134.5 2.4
187.1 3.2

150.8
132.2
153.2
132.6
189.1

Purple waxy corn

PWC1
PWC2
PWC3
PWC4
PWC5

h
i
h
i
de

cd
e
bc
f
a

White waxy corn

WWC1
WWC2
WWC3

99.8 1.3 j
89.6 2.5 kl
85.9 1.8 l

57.3 2.3 q
56.8 2.4 q
56.7 2.1 q

26.5 2.1 t
47.6 1.8 r
36.1 1.9 s

61.2 fg
64.7 f
59.6 g

Super sweet corn

SSC1
SSC2

85.5 2.4 lm
93.4 3.2 jk

75.2 3.2 no
78.3 3.1 mn

65.5 2.0 p
69.4 2.2 op

75.4 e
80.3 d

Values are mean standard deviation of three replicate analysis.

Means with the same letter(s) in the same column are not signicantly different (p < 0.05) by LSD.
R1 is 710 days after silking, R4 is milky stage at 18 days after silking and R6 is maturity stage at 30 days after silking.

f
i
f
g
b

b
c
b
c
a

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E. Sarepoua et al. / Food Chemistry 169 (2015) 424429

Table 3
Total avonoid content in silk of 10 corn varieties evaluated at different reproductive stages.
Type of corn

Varieties

Purple waxy corn

PWC1
PWC2
PWC3
PWC4
PWC5

White waxy corn

WWC1
WWC2
WWC3

Super sweet corn

SSC1
SSC2

Total avonoids content (lg RE/g dried sample)

Silking stage (R1)

Milky stage (R4)

Maturity stage (R6)

Mean

83.6 1.9
74.1 3.1
74.4 2.1
99.0 2.3
121.5 2.4

104.6 2.1
99.8 3.2
94.5 1.4
129.2 3.2
136.0 2.2

100.0 1.7
61.8 4.4
86.8 1.0
105.3 4.3
101.4 1.9

96.1
78.6
85.2
111.1
119.6

k
l
l
f
c

57.6 3.3 p
50.9 3.2 q
87.4 3.3 ij
117.6 3.4 d
119.1 3.2 cd

e
f
g
b
a

f
o
j
e
f

c
g
f
b
a

35.0 2.3 r
35.7 3.1 r
35.7 3.2 r

33.2 3.5 r
33.6 4.1 r
33.8 3.4 r

41.9 i
40.1 j
52.3 h

90.3 3.1 hi
92.2 3.8 gh

65.5 2.4 n
69.2 3.9 m

91.1 e
93.5 d

Values are mean standard deviation of three replicate analysis.

Means with the same letter(s) in the same column are not signicantly different (p < 0.05) by LSD.
R1 is 710 days after silking, R4 is milky stage at 18 days after silking and R6 is maturity stage at 30 days after silking.

Table 4
Total anthocyanin content in silk of 10 corn varieties evaluated at different reproductive stages.
Type of corn

Varieties

Total anthocyanin content (lg C3G/g dried sample)

Silking stage (R1)

Milky stage (R4)

Maturity stage (R6)

Mean

5.8 2.2
5.3 2.4
6.0 2.5
4.3 2.3
11.7 3.4

53.2 1.5
59.9 1.9
53.7 1.3
39.5 1.1
63.4 1.7

52.2 1.1
39.8 1.6
48.4 1.2
27.9 1.5
62.7 1.7

37.1
35.0
36.0
23.9
46.0

Purple waxy corn

PWC1
PWC2
PWC3
PWC4
PWC5

ij
ij
i
jk
h

cd
b
c
f
a

d
f
e
g
a

b
c
bc
d
a

White waxy corn

WWC1
WWC2
WWC3

1.7 2.1 lmnop

3.1 2.2 kl
1.6 2.2 mnop

1.2 1.2 nop

2.9 1.8 klm
1.5 1.4 mnop

0.5 0.3 op
2.5 1.3 lmn
0.3 0.2 p

1.1 f
2.8 e
1.1 f

Super sweet corn

SSC1
SSC2

2.1 2.3 lmn

2.3 2.2 lmn

2.0 1.7 lmno

1.9 1.3 lmno

1.8 0.4 lmnop

1.5 0.3 mnop

2.0 ef
1.9 ef

Values are mean standard deviation of three replicate analysis.

Means with the same letter(s) in the same column are not signicantly different (p < 0.05) by LSD.
R1 is 710 days after silking, R4 is milky stage at 18 days after silking and R6 is maturity stage at 30 days after silking.

whereas PWC2 and PWC1 had the highest total anthocyanin contents of 59.9 1.9 and 53.2 1.5 lg C3G/g, respectively, at the
milky stage.
3.3. Radical DPPH scavenging activity
Differences among corn varieties at three maturity stages were
signicant for radical DPPH scavenging activity (Table 5). The
DPPH values of radical scavenging activity of corn varieties evaluated across the three maturity stages ranged from 11.0% to 86.0%.
Silking stage had the highest DPPH values of 61.5% followed by
milky stage (56.6%) and physiological maturity stage (43.6%),
respectively (Table 6). On average across three maturity stages,
purple waxy corn constituted the highest DPPH values ranging
from 78.3% to 64.2%, and PWC5 and PWC3 were highest (78.3%
and 71.0%, respectively) (Table 5). Super sweet corns were intermediate ranging from 61.3% to 63.7%, and white waxy corn was
lowest ranging from 21.3% to 33.4%. PWC5 of purple waxy corn
was highest for DPPH values at milky stage (86.0 4.5%) and silking stage (78.1%), whereas WWC1 WWC3 and WWC2 of white
waxy corn had the lowest DPPH values of 11.0 3.3, 15.0 3.3
and 19.8 3.5%, respectively, at physiological maturity stage.
4. Discussion
4.1. Phytochemicals at three maturity stages
Corn is usually harvested and consumed at three maturity
stages such as baby corn, vegetable immature corn and mature

corn. Baby corn is harvested at the silking stage. Vegetable corns

such as super sweet corn and waxy corn are harvested at the
immature stage which is normally at 21 days after silking or
slightly later but not at physiological maturity stage, and corn is
also harvest at physiological maturity stage for seed production
(Znidarcic, Ban, Peruric, Oplanic, & Koncar, 2008). At all maturity
stages, ears and kernels are used for food, and silk is normally discarded as waste. However, silk can be used as a food ingredient as
it is rich in photochemicals with antioxidant activity. Therefore,
this study was carried out to determine total phenolic, avonoid
and anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity in the silk of purple waxy corn, white waxy corn and super sweet corn at the silking
stage, immature stage and physiological maturity stage.
In this study, purple waxy corn is most suitable for use as a
source of phenolic compounds, avonoids and anthocyanins as
the contents of these phytochemicals were generally higher than
white waxy corn and super sweet corn at all maturity stages. In
the previous study, phenolic compounds (Ebrahimzadeh et al.,
2008; Liu et al., 2011) and avonoids (Ebrahimzadeh et al., 2008;
Hu, Zhang, Li, Ding, & Li, 2010; Liu et al., 2011) were the major
components of phytochemicals in corn silk, and the contents of
these phytochemicals varied depending on extraction methods,
plant tissues and the origin of the plants (Ebrahimzadeh et al.,
2008). Purple waxy corn has high anthocyanin accumulation
(Jian & Monica, 2010; Yang & Zhai, 2010) as there are derivatives
unique among avonoids and phenolic compounds as their structures undergo reversible transformation at different pHs in aqueous solution (Jian & Monica, 2010). Anthocyanins also
accumulate in other parts of corn such as in silk, leaves and seeds
(Fossen, Slimestad, & Andersen, 2001).

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E. Sarepoua et al. / Food Chemistry 169 (2015) 424429

Table 5
Scavenging activity in silk of 10 corn varieties evaluated at different reproductive stages.
Type of corn

Varieties

Scavenging activity (%inhibition DPPH)

Silking stage (R1)

Milky stage (R4)

Maturity stage (R6)

Mean

Purple waxy corn

PWC1
PWC2
PWC3
PWC4
PWC5

70.7 4.1
70.3 5.5
74.7 4.4
57.3 4.2
78.1 5.3

74.7 5.4
74.6 6.5
77.1 6.3
61.4 5.3
86.0 4.5

52.0 5.2
47.7 4.2
61.3 4.3
45.9 4.5
70.8 4.6

65.8
64.2
71.0
54.9
78.3

White waxy corn

WWC1
WWC2
WWC3

33.2 3.6 l
32.5 3.1 l
61.5 7.1 f

19.7 3.4 n
23.6 3.6 m
23.6 3.9 m

11.0 3.3 p
19.8 3.5 n
15.0 3.3 o

21.3 i
25.3 h
33.4 g

Super sweet corn

SSC1
SSC2

65.3 4.2 e
71.1 4.6 d

60.3 5.5 f
65.2 5.2 e

58.2 4.6 g
54.9 4.2 h

61.3 e
63.7 d

d
d
c
g
b

c
c
b
f
a

Asorbic acid (40 lg/mL)

i
j
f
k
d

c
d
b
f
a

75.5 2.1 bc

Values are mean standard deviation of three replicate analysis.

Means with the same letter(s) in the same column are not signicantly different (p < 0.05) by LSD.
R1 is 710 days after silking, R4 is milky stage at 18 days after silking and R6 is maturity stage at 30 days after silking.

Table 6
Means for total phenolic content (TPC), total avonoids content (TFC), total
anthocyanin content (TAC) and scavenging activity (SA) in silk of 10 corn varieties
evaluated at different reproductive stages.
Reproductive
stage

TPC (lg GAE/

g dried
sample)

TFC (lg RE/g

dried
sample)

TAC (lg C3G/

g dried
sample)

SA
(%inhibition
DPPH)

Silking stage
Milky stage
Maturity
stage

110.7 b
121.3 a
97.8 c

88.5 a
85.3 b
69.1 c

4.4 c
27.9 a
23.8 b

61.5 a
56.6 b
43.6 c

Means with the same letter(s) in the same column are not signicantly different
(p < 0.05) by LSD.

In this study, harvest of purple waxy corn at the milky stage was
most suitable for higher phytochemicals. This harvest time is
normal for commercial production of purple waxy corn. The best
harvest time for super sweet corn that gave the highest phytochemicals was at silking stage. However, super sweet corn is also
harvested commercially at milky stage which produced somewhat
lower phytochemicals than at the silking stage. Harvest at physiological maturity stage is not suitable as it produced low phytochemicals for all types of corn.
In previous investigations, total anthocyanin content in corn
silk of purple waxy corn varieties was highest at the milky stage
and maturity stage (Yang & Zhai, 2010). In general, low concentrations of anthocyanins were found in white waxy corn and super
sweet corn varieties (Kasim, Sulusoglu, & Ufuk, 2011). Purple waxy
corn had the highest total phenolic content, total avonoid content
and total anthocyanin content (Sarepoua et al., 2013).
The results in this study supported previous reports and indicated that corn silk is suitable for use as a raw material for the production of functional food products. However, harvest at different
maturity stages resulted in differences in silk quality. If phytochemicals are considered, harvest at silking stage gave the best
quality of silk. Harvest at immature stage had intermediate quality,
and harvest at physiological maturity stage had rather low quality.
Although corn silk has been used as a traditional herb, the scientic
information on the health promoting properties of corn silk has not
been clearly elucidated. This study provided useful information on
the differences of corn silk of different corn types harvested at different maturities for phenolic compounds, avonoids and anthocyanins which were closely related to antioxidant activity (Ardestani
& Yazdanparast, 2007). Corn silk contains phytochemicals that
have health benets, and it is useful for use as raw material for
extraction of natural phytochemicals for use in food industry.
The use of corn silk should reduce agricultural waste.

4.2. Antioxidant activity at three maturity stages

Plants are an important source of natural antioxidants especially for phenolics, avonoids, tannins and anthocyanidins that
are safe and bioactive (Mohsen & Ammar, 2009). Natural antioxidants extracted from fruits, teas, vegetables and medicinal plants
have been investigated extensively because they are effective in
eliminating free radicals and less toxic than synthetic antioxidants
(Zhu, Lian, Guo, Peng, & Zhou, 2011). Corn silk is an important bioactive source of natural antioxidants (Hasanudin et al., 2012), and
total phenolic content in corn silk was correlated with free-radical
scavenging activity (Ardestani & Yazdanparast, 2007). If DPPH radical scavenging activity is considered, corn silk with the best quality can be harvested at the silking stage, which is in accordance
with the harvest time of baby corn. Therefore, silk of baby corn is
the best source of antioxidant activity. Harvest at the milking stage
also yielded the best quality silk especially for purple waxy corn
which was the best type of corn for high DPPH radical scavenging
activity. Harvest at physiological maturity stage yielded the lowest
quality of corn silk.
In earlier studies, DPPH radical scavenging activity was correlated with total phenolic content and total avonoid content,
and, although the relationship between DPPH radical scavenging
activity and anthocyanin content was not signicant, it was still
high and positive (r = 0.40) (Sarepoua et al., 2013). Phenolic compounds, avonoids and anthocyanins in corn silk can reduced
DPPH radicals and provide high antioxidant activity (Nurhanan
et al., 2012). Therefore, corn silk harvested at different maturity
stages can be used as a raw material for production of value-added
functional food products.
High pigmentation generally occurs at the early maturity phase
of corn silk, and it is related directly to high antioxidant activity.
Different parts of corn silk also differ in antioxidant activity. The
upper part of corn silk had higher pigmentation than the lower
part of corn silk, and it also had a higher total antioxidant capacity
(Alam, 2011). The highest antioxidant activity was found in corn
silk from purple waxy corn varieties PWC5 at the milky stage
and silking stage.
5. Conclusion
This study evaluated total phenolic, avonoid and anthocyanin
content and antioxidant activity in corn silk of different types at
different maturity stages. The questions underlying the research
project were what harvest times are most suitable and which corn
types and varieties are most suitable for production of corn silk

E. Sarepoua et al. / Food Chemistry 169 (2015) 424429

with high concentrations of the phytochemicals and antioxidant

activity. Milky stage was the best time for harvest, and corn silk
that was harvest at this maturity stage had the highest total phenolic content, total avonoid content, total anthocyanin content
and antioxidant activity. Corn silk harvest at the silking stage
had lower quality than corn silk harvested at the milky stage, but
harvest at physiological maturity produced corn silk with the lowest quality. In general, purple waxy corn had silk with the highest
total phenolic content, total avonoid content, total anthocyanin
content and antioxidant activity. Super sweet corn also provided
silk of good quality although the quality was lower than that produced from purple waxy corn. However, silk of white waxy corn
has the lowest quality. PWC5 of purple waxy corn was the best
genotypes for silk quality especially at milking growth stage.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Higher Education Research
Promotion and National Research University Project of Thailand,
Ofce of the Higher Education Commission, through the Food
and Functional Food Research Cluster of Khon Kaen University
and Plant Breeding Research Center for Sustainable Agriculture,
Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.
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