Peer review

Gas-liquid chromatography was used to determine the fatty acid composition of oil extracted from the germ and endosperm fractions of the corn kernel. Four normal dent inbred lines and high-amylose strains derived with one to four generations of backcrossing to the normal recurrent parents were studied. Significant differences in palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids were found among inbred lines and generations of backcrossing. Oil composition of the germ for three of the four inbreds tended to regress toward the oil composition of the recurrent parent with increasing number of generations of backcrossing. For all backcross strains and normal inbreds, the oil from the endosperm was higher in palmitic, stearic, and linolenic acids and lower in linoleic acid when compared with the germ oil. No consistent relationship between endosperm and germ oil was shown for oleic acid. The endosperm oil of the high-amylose strains was higher in palmitic and stearic acids and lower in linoleic acid than the endosperm oil of the normal recurrent parents. Composition of the endosperm oil from high-amylose strains did not regress toward the recurrent parent values with increasing number of generations of backcrossing.

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