Rate of water absorption and proximate analysis of different varieties of maize cultivated in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Water absorption and proximate composition of four varieties of maize; sweet corn, pop corn, white corn and yellow corn soaked at different temperatures and time duration were determined. Absorption increased with increase in temperatures and time but generally low at 45°C. The total average rate of hydration at different temperatures showed that pop corn and yellow corn absorbed water at a faster rate with the highest average rate of 0.14% per min, while white corn average hydration rate was 0.013% per min at 70°C. Proximate composition showed that protein, carbohydrate and fat were the major component of the seeds that imbibed water. The percentage crude protein of seed was at the range of 7.00 - 8.75%. Sweet corn had the highest protein content and is expected to posses the highest hydration capacity, followed by yellow corn (7.88%). Pop corn and white corn had 7.88 and 7.00%, respectively. Yellow corn had the highest total carbohydrate of 76.52%, white corn 76.00%, while sweet corn and pop corn recorded 69.25 and 74.12%, respectively. Generally, the seeds recorded low crude fat content of 0.5 - 1.5%.Keywords: Water absorption, proximate composition, sweet-corn yellow-corn, pop-corn, white-cor