Moradyn®: It’s time to seed!
Yes, it's time: we are ready. Our Purple corn cultivation in Italy is ready to grow again. Within two weeks all seeds will be planted and the warm weather and water will do the rest. Moradyn® variety has been developed with the support and cooperation of the University of Milan, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The variety has been obtained using traditional breeding methods by taking advantage of the variability naturally present in the germplasm of the selected species, without inserting genes from different organisms. None of the seeds has been genetically modified. The original purple-blue color botanical variety is, in fact, native of Peru and it does not grow in our Country due to the different climatic and environmental conditions.
The purple color of corn is due to the high content of anthocyanins, pigments belonging to the class of phenolic compounds, that play a significant role in human health and nutrition due to their positive functions in the diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular, inflammation and oxidative stress areas. Purple corn anthocyanins are represented by glycosides of cyanidin, pelargonidin and peonidin present both as monomers and acylated forms. Cyanidin 3-O-β-D-Glucoside (C-3-G) is the predominant anthocyanin to which are attributed the actions on the physiological mechanisms related to obesity and type 2 diabetes (1, 2).
What we will do
The purpose of our project is to develop a maize cultivar, particularly rich in anthocyanins, that easily grows in Italy and able to supply a consistent content of C-3-G in the corn cob. The Corn cob is the non-edible part of the corn fruit and is normally considered as a waste, opposite to the kernels, classically used as raw material in food, oil and plastic industry. Our goal is to maximize the extraction of anthocyanins from the cob and add value to this vegetable waste recovering bioactive compounds, selected for their high commercial value and for their peculiar biological activities.
Moradyn® dry extract will be then obtained with our proprietary extraction process of the cob, after its humidity level has been reduced below 15%, to avoid the proliferation of any microbial activity.We are going to get the best from nature, joining the natural beneficial properties of purple corn with modern technologies. The cultivations, in different areas of the North of Italy, will be pesticide free and we aim to get also organic certification with 2018 crop. All corn will be manually harvest on the plant to control the quality of the fruit and then the seeds will be separated from the cob and used to make food flour for special gluten free products.
REFERENCES
- Pu Jing MS (2006) Purple Corn anthocyanins: chemical structure, chemoprotective activity and structure/function relationships. Dissertation presented in Partial Fulfi llment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy. The Graduate School of The Ohio State University
- Tsuda T, Horio F, Uchida K et al (2003) Dietary Cyanidin 3-O-β-D-Glucoside-Rich Purple Corn Color Prevents Obesity and Ameliorates Hyperglycemia. Mice J Nutr 133(7):2125-2130.