Screening of seeds prepared from retrograded potato starch to increase retrogradation rate of maize starch.

In this paper, retrograded potato starches treated by oxalic, hydrochloric and citric acids and/with amylase respectively, as seed crystals, are added into maize starch paste to increase maize starch retrogradation rate. The results show that addition of seed accelerates maize starch retrogradation greatly. Seed prepared from retrograded potato starch treated by oxalic acid increases maize starch retrogradation rate most, from 1.5% to 49%. The results of IR spectra of retrograded maize starch derived from different seeds show that double helix, not hydrogen bond, probably forms at stage of seed growth during retrogradation. The results of IR spectra, X-ray and SEM indicate that treatment of retrograded potato starch with oxalic acid leads to formation of more hydrogen bonds and an increase of seed crystal planes, which markedly promotes the growth of the seed. Retrogradation of maize starch by seeding method surely includes a stage of crystal growth through double helix in a way different from normal maize starch retrogradation.