Phytochemical Analysis with Quantitative Evaluation of Protein of Floral Maize Pollen

Abstract

Bee pollen is commonly used as a dietary supplement and is recognized for its medicinal properties. Floral pollen is less recognized due to a lack of investigation. This study aims to determine the morphological characteristics and nutritional and phytochemical properties of floral maize pollen. The main composition of floral maize pollen is carbohydrates (64.15%), followed by moisture (5%), crude proteins (15.75%), crude fibers (7.4%), and ash (3.3%), while the lowest content is observed for crude fats (4.4%). Excellent phytochemical properties add value to floral maize pollen. Maize pollen possesses strong antioxidant activity. The acetone extract exhibited the highest radical scavenging activity with 83.97±0.04 % followed by its methanol extract with 80.20±0.09, ethanol extract with 66.20±0.06 and aqueous extract with 33.73 % by DPPH assay. In overall comparison of different extracts the Acetone extract of Zea mays (saccharata) show the highest scavenging activity followed by the methanol, ethanol and then aqueous extract. Acetone and Methanol has been proven as effective solvent to extract phenol compounds. Maize floral pollen and derived products can serve as future food resources for human consumption and as a source of functional and bioactive compounds in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries