Assessment of Nutritive Quality of Maize (Zea mays L.) Produced and Stocked from Rural Conditions in Côte d’Ivoire

Aims: Maize (Zea mays L.) is a major staple food for millions of people in Côte d’Ivoire. Due to its high productivity and low cost of calorie it is preferred crop for food security of the country. Thus, this study was conducted to assess nutritive quality of maize produced and stocked in five purposively selected regions of Côte d’Ivoire which represents five agroecological settings.

Study Design: A total of 1500 samples of maize as grains, epis and spathes were collected at rate of 500 samples by region (Gbêkê, Poro, Hambol, Indénié-Djuablin and Gontougo) and sent to the laboratory in order to analyse their nutritional quality.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out during March 2016 to January 2017. The collected sample were carried out at the laboratory unit of Food Sciences and Biochemistry of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny University, Abidjan.

Methodology: Proximate analyses were carried out using standard methods AOAC (2000).

Results: The results show significant difference from the biochemical compositions of maize type and region. Mean value intervals were as follow: dry matter (85.83 – 91.42%), ash (1.19 - 2%), proteins (7.99 - 9.32), lipids (3.21 - 4.47), carbohydrates (71.80 - 77.94), starches (62.30 - 68.44%), fibers (5.03 - 5.83%), total sugars (2,13 - 2.99%), reducing sugars (0.33 - 0.66%), free fat acidity (1.86- 4.50%), peroxide value (1.34 - 3.07 meq O2/kg), iodine value (100.93 - 130.56 g I2/100 g), unsaponifiable (0.89 - 1.54%) and energy values (357.88 - 374.39 kcal).

Conclusion: A significant variability from one region to another can be noticed at level of maize quality regardless the type of maize. The nutritive quality of maize seems to be tied to postharvest treatments (drying), type of storage (epis, grains and spathes) and structure of storage.