Relative Humidity Increases That Cause Stress Cracks in Com

Two corn varieties were used to study the development of stress cracks due to moisture adsorption. Good whole and uncracked corn kernels were initially equilibrated to three moisture levels of about 10%, 12.5%, and 15% before being exposed to high relative humidity environments of 65%, 75%, 80%, 92%, and 100% for a period of 12 hours. Kernels were inspected for stress cracks during moisture adsorption. Results showed that grains which were equilibrated to about 10% moisture would fissure when exposed to 75%, 80%, 92% or 100% relative humidity. The percentage of fissured kernels (PFK) increased as the exposure humidity increased with all of the kernels Assuring when exposed to 92% or 100% relative humidity environments. The PFK decreased sharply as the initial moisture level increased with no kernels developing fissures when 15% moisture corn was exposed to the selected humidities. The two varieties differed significantly in the number of stress cracks which developed during moisture adsorption.