EVALUATION OF THE PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF ETHIOPIAN MAIZE VARIETY (BH-660) FOR DEXTROSE PRODUCTION

Dextrose was produced from locally available hybrid variety of maize (Bako Hybrid- 660) in Ethiopia, using acid extraction. The variety was selected as an experimental input from Bako Agricultural Research Centre for the production of intermediate product starch using wet milling and end-product dextrose. The proximate composition values in the wet, milled, dried and cleaned white dent 2000 g BH-660 maize when steeped in 0.3% sulfur dioxide for 46 hrs at 50°C were determined. The mean values were 11.74%, 64.15%, 4.51%, 10.23%, 6.53% and 2.81%, for moisture content, total starch, germ, gluten, husk and fibre, respectively on dry weight basis. The total starch obtained from wet milling was 91.8% pure starch by mass. The proximate analysis values of moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre and total ash content of the sample were 7.65 %, 4.89%, 0.35%, 0.75 % 0.29 % , respectively on dry weight basis. Besides these, pH value was also determined to be 4.79. This obtained starch was hydrolyzed by an acid extraction method for the production of BH-660 maize dextrose. An average yield of 91.64% dextrose result was obtained and from this, 92.24% was pure dextrose by mass. Analysis result revealed that moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre and total ash content of the produced dextrose were 6.24%, 0.11%, 0.25%, 0.30% and 0.03%, respectively on dry weight basis. In addition, the pH value of 6.28 was determined. The control dextrose obtained from Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Share Company analysis values of moisture, crude fibre, crude fat and dextrose content were 5%, 0.24%, 0.23% and 93.73%, respectively on dry weight basis. From these data, it can be concluded that the BH- 660 maize variety has a significant potential for the production of high quality starch and dextrose, which can be used as a raw material for starch and dextrose processing industries.