Effect of acetylation on some properties of corn and potato starches

Corn starch and starches separated from different potato cultivars were acetylated to evaluate the effect of plant source on the physicochemical, morphological, thermal, rheological, textural and retrogradation properties of the starches. Corn starch showed a lower degree of acetylation than potato starches under similar experimental conditions. The degree of acetylation for different potato starches also differed significantly. Morphological examination revealed that the granules of acetylated Kufri Chandermukhi and Kufri Sindhuri starches tended to appear as fused and less smooth than native starch granules. Acetylation of corn and potato starches decreased the transition temperatures and enthalpy of gelatinization and increased swelling power and light transmittance. However, the change in these was greater in the potato starches with higher percentage of small sized granules. Acetylated starches showed higher peak G, G and lower tan delta than their counterpart native starches during heating. Among the starches from different cultivars, the change in the rheological parameters after acetylation differed to a significant extent. The retrogradation was observed to be negligible in the acetylated cooked starch pastes. Results implied that the change in functional properties of starches with acetylation depends on source and granule morphology of native starch.