Evaluation of agronomic and sensory characteristics of sweet corn hybrids

Abstract

Sweet corn is considered as tasty and quality food. Its kernels contain sugars that are in good balance with amino acids, minerals and vitamin B. It is used as fresh product right after the harvest, but also for further industrial processing, freezing and canning. In breeding of sweet corn, equal attention is paid to the production of high and stable yielding hybrids, and to the enhancement of technological and sensory properties of the ear and kernel. The aim of this re-search was to establish agronomic and sensory properties of 12 sweet corn hybrids, 3 commercial and 9 experimental. The trial was set up according to the RCBD on two locations and in three replicates. The evaluation of agronomic parameters encompassed: fresh ear yield without husk, ear length, number of kernel rows and shelling percentage. Also, sensory characteristics were analyzed: appearance, color, smell, sweetness, juiciness, crispiness, pericarp hardness. Sensory characteristics were evaluated by voluntary panelists and scaled with 1 – 9 point hedonic scale. Fresh ear yield significantly varied over locations and hybrids. The highest fresh ear yield had experimental hybrid ZP 481/1su – 13.33 t ha-1, while the lowest was 7.14 t ha-1 (ZP504su). The difference between sensory characteristics among hybrids was also noticed, although all hybrids had satisfactory sensory characteristics with the average sensory marks above 7.30/9.00. The best sweet corn hybrid according to sensory characteristics was ZP 483/1su (8.29), while the highest yielding one ZP 481/1su had an average sensory mark 7.70.

Kukuruz šećerac se smatra ukusnim i kvalitetnim povrćem. Njegovo zrno sadrži šećere, ami-no-kiseline, minerale i vitamin B koji su u veoma dobrom odnosu. Koristi se u svežem stanju odmah nakon berbe, ali takođe i za industrijsku preradu i zamrzavanje zrna. U procesu ople-menjivanja kukuruza šećerca, podjednaka pažnja posvećuje se stvaranju hibrida visokog i sta-bilnog prinosa, kao i poboljšanju tehnoloških i senzornih karakteristika klipa i zrna. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je da se utvrde agronomske i senzorne karakteristike 12 hibrida kukuruza šećerca, od kojih su tri hibrida bila komercijalna, a 9 eksperimentalnih. Ogled je bio postavljen po prin-cipu RCBD, na dve lokacije i u tri ponavljanja. Analiza agronomskih karakteristika obuhvatila je: prinos svežeg klipa bez komušine, dužinu klipa, broj redova zrna i randman zrna. Od senzornih karakteristika analizirane su sledeće: izgled klipa, boja, miris, slatkoća, sočnost, hrskavost i tvr-doća perikarpa. Senzorne karakteristike procenjivalo je 15 dobrovoljaca, koristeći skalu 1 – 9. Prinos svežeg klipa značajno je varirao u odnosu na lokacije i hibride. Najviši prinos postigao je eksperimentalni hibrid ZP 481/1su – 13,33 t ha-1, dok je najniži prinos bio kod hibrida ZP504su (7,14 t ha-1). Razlike u pogledu senzornih karakteristika između posmatranih hibrida takođe su primećene, ali svi hibridi su uglavnom imali zadovoljavajuće senzorne ocene sa srednjom vred-nošću preko 7,30/9,00. Najbolji hibrid kukuruza šećerca prema senzornim ocenama bio je ZP 483/1su (8.29/9,00), dok je najprinosniji hibrid ZP 481/1su imao nisku senzornu ocenu od 7,70.