Abstract
Despite the high proportion of maize grain in animal diets, the contribution made by maize phytochemicals is neglected. Tocols and their contribution to the vitamin E content of animal diets are one example, exacerbated by sparse information on the tocol bioaccessibility of commercial hybrids. In this study, the contents of individual and total tocols and their bioaccessibility were determined in the grain samples of 103 commercial hybrids using a standardized INFOGEST digestion procedure. In the studied hybrids, total tocol content ranged from 19.24 to 54.44 µg/g of dry matter. The contents of micellar α-, γ-, δ-tocopherols, γ-tocotrienol, and total tocols correlated positively with the corresponding contents in the grain samples of the studied hybrids. In contrast, a negative correlation was observed between the bioaccessibility of γ- tocopherol, α- and γ-tocotrienol, and total tocols, along with the corresponding contents in the grain of studied hybrids. The highest bioaccessibility was exhibited by γ-tocotrienol (532.77 g/kg), followed by δ-tocopherol (529.88 g/kg), γ-tocopherol (461.76 g/kg), α-tocopherol (406.49 g/kg), and α-tocotrienol (359.07 g/kg). Overall, there are significant differences in the content and bioaccessibility of total and individual tocols among commercial maize hybrids, allowing the selection of hybrids for animal production based not only on crude chemical composition but also on the content of phytochemicals.