Cereal Chem 58:110 - 112.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Effect of High Doses of Gamma Rays on Corn Grains. I. Influence on the Chemical Composition of Whole Grains and the Technological Process of Starch and By-Product Isolation.

M. Roushdi, A. Harras, A. El-Meligi, and M. Bassim. Copyright 1981 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

The total soluble sugars and reducing sugars in corn grains at 10% moisture content increased as the dose level of gamma rays (in megarads) increased. The soluble nitrogen increased up to an irradiation level of 2 Mrad, then tended to fall. Except at 0.5 Mrad, the soundness number (extractable acidity) increased with increasing dose level, and pH decreased. The same trend was observed, but with greater variation, in irradiated corn grains with 33.5% moisture content; the soundness number and soluble nitrogen increased and pH decreased. Irradiation at 0.5 Mrad gave the highest starch recovery; at levels higher than 0.5 Mrad, starch recovery decreased concomitantly with increase in starch protein content. The starch color from grains irradiated at doses higher than 0.5 Mrad was slightly yellow, and color intensity increased as the dosage was raised.