IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

RESEARCH JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE AND QUALITY CONTROL (RJFSQC )

E-ISSN 2504-6145
P-ISSN 2695-2459
VOL. 11 NO. 3 2025
DOI: 10.56201/rjfsqc.vol.11.no3.2025.pg24.34

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Beta-Carotene Content of Selected Maize Genotypes and Its Retention After Processing and Preparation of Different Nigerian Maize Foods

Ile Bamidele Emakoji, and Simon Drisu

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Abstract

Biofortification of maize genotypes with micronutrients such as beta - carotene is a promising solution to the eradication of Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in developing countries like Nigeria. A critical factor to consider for retention of beta - carotene in food products is the method/technique of processing such food crops. Processing maize for food exposes the grains to environmental factors such as air, light and temperature which may reduce beta - carotene content. The research question asked in this work says, is there significant difference in beta-carotene content of the product of different maize samples processed by different methods? The aim of this study is to determine beta - carotene concentration in raw samples of the selected maize genotypes and its retention after processing using different methods. The beta - carotene content in the selected maize genotypes before and after processing were estimated via spectrophotometry. The results show that beta - carotene content of raw samples of selected maize genotypes ranged from 20.74 – 40.42 µg/g and beta - carotene retention in the maize food products ranged from 3.55 – 42.84 µg/g. The maize varieties with significantly higher beta - carotene contents in their raw samples were EB1, SUW and PRO. While other maize varieties showed reduction in their beta-carotene after processing, the beta-carotene content in SUW maize variety was more than 100 % relatively to its raw sample after boiling and roasting. Based on the treatment/processing methods, boiled and roasted maize had significantly higher (p<0.05) beta - carotene retention than their Agidi, Pap and moin-moin counterparts. Pap recorded more than 70% loss of beta - carotene. Processing methods during preparation of maize food products contributed to degradation of beta - carotene content. This study suggests that boiling and roasting are the best processing methods for optimum retention of beta - carotene in maize

keywords:

beta-carotene content, retention, maize variety, processing methods

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