GENOTIPOS DE MAÍZ ( Zea mays L.) CON DIFERENTE CONTENIDO DE ACEITE Y SU RELACIÓN CON LA CALIDAD Y TEXTURA DE LA TORTILLA OIL CONTENT IN MAIZE (Zea mays L.) GENOTYPES AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH QUALITY AND TEXTURE OF TORTILLA

The texture of tortillas is a key indicator of their quality. The relationship between the oil content of corn (Zea mays L.) grain and the texture of tortillas is little known; however, the presence of oil significantly improves the strength and chewiness of this food. The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition of grain corns with different oil content and determine the relationship between the oil content and the quality and texture of freshly prepared and stored tortillas for 24, 48 and 72 h at 4 °C. In this study normal endosperm corns (MEN), and corns with high oil content (ACA) and high protein quality (ACP) were used. The experimental design was completely randomized with eight treatments and two replications; the data was used to carry out an analysis of variance and means were compared with the Tukey’s test (p 0.05). The analysis of the results shows that ACA corns had the highest percentage of oil (x5.9 %). Tortillas made with ACA corns had softer texture and large elongation when they are freshly prepared and during the storage period than the rest of the corns; their lysine content (x3.13 %) and tryptophan (x0.6075 %) was lower than tortillas of ACP corns (x3.98 % and 0.846 %). The yellow population (PAN) of ACA stood out for its high oil content in tortillas and softness. All genotypes fulfill the requirements of the masa and tortilla industry.