Antioxidant Activity and Functional Components of Corn Silk(Zea mays L.)

In order to find out superior corn line which has a strong antioxidant activity in the corn silk, antioxidant compounds and antioxidant activity were measured from various inbred and F1 lines. As a result, the contents of phenolic and flavonoid compounds range from 532 mg/100 g to 3,274 mg/100 g and from 980 mg/100 g to 2,420 mg/100 g respectively. Absorbance at 517 nm for contents of anthocyanins ranges from 0.05 to 0.76. Correlation coefficients between antioxidant compounds and various antioxidant assays such as DPPH, ABTS and FRAP were analyzed. Correlation coefficients between antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds and anthocyanin were significantly high in ABTS and FRAP assays. Considering acidic extraction condition and intervention between anthocyanins and DPPH solution, ABTS assay and FRAP assay are more suitable methods to evaluate antioxidant activity of corn silks. Especially, ABTS assay is thought to be the best method among three assays because the antioxidant activity in ABTS assay showed high correlation with phenol, flavonoid and anthocyanin compounds respectively. Among the samples, S15 which showed the highest contents of total phenolic compounds and the most potent antioxidant activity in ABTS and FRAP assay will be a good source for functional material.