Comparison of oil and phytosterol levels in germplasm accessions of corn, teosinte, and Job's tears

Seeds of 49 accessions of corn (Zea mays ssp. mays), 9 accessions of teosin te (Zea species that are thought to be ancestors and probable progenitors t o corn), and 3 accessions of Job's tears (Coix lacryma), obtained from a ge rmplasm repository, were ground and extracted with hexane. Whole kernel oil yields and levels of four phytonutrients (free phytosterols, fatty acyl ph ytosterol esters, ferulate phytosterol. esters, and gamma -tocopherol) in t he oils were measured. Among the seeds tested, oil yields ranged from 2.19 to 4.83 wt %, the levels of ferulate phytosterol esters in the oil ranged f rom 0.047 to 0.839 wt %, the levels of free phytosterols in the oil ranged from 0.54 to 1.28 wt %, the levels of phytosterol fatty acyl esters in the oil ranged from 0.76 to 3.09 wt %, the levels of total phytosterols in the oil ranged from 1.40 to 4.38 wt %, and the levels of gamma -tocopherol in t he oil ranged from 0.023 to 0.127 wt %. In general, higher levels of all th ree phytosterol classes were observed in seed oils from accessions of Zea m ays ssp. mays than in seed oils from accessions of the other taxonomic grou ps. The highest levels of gamma -tocopherol were observed in teosinte acces sions.