LAUSR

Abstract A novel method was used to characterize starch morphology in four kinds of starch (wheat, corn, potato, and sweet potato). Individual starch granules contained in starch suspension (at least 2500 particles) were successfully captured for each species using a particle flow analyzer. Captured images were analyzed to quantitate morphological parameters such as circle equivalent (CE) diameter, circularity, intensity mean, and aspect ratio. The median circularity of potato was 0.988, which was higher than that of other plant species (wheat: 0.953, corn: 0.966, sweet potato: 0.943). In this way, the analysis allowed for the characterization of starch using morphological parameters. Correlations between morphological parameters revealed that CE diameter correlated with circularity for potato (R = −0.67) and with intensity mean for wheat (R = 0.64). Furthermore, principal component analysis divided the plant species into two morphological groups: size diverse including potato starch and outline diverse including wheat, corn, and sweet potato.