Variations in Brown Rice Quality Among Cultivars

In Asia, more than 2000 million people obtain their 60–70% calories from a wide variety of rice cultivars and its products (Lin et al. 2011). The chemical composition of rice grain varies widely, depending on variety, soil and environment. Brown rice is the name given to dehusked paddy which retains the embryo and bran layers of the grain. Brown rice is rich in fibres, minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals mostly present in the bran layer (Min et al. 2012). There are about more than 40,000 varieties of rice, but only a few varieties are familiar to most of us. Diversity in quality parameters of rice varieties depends mostly on the genetic background and climatic and soil conditions during the rice grain development, which affect the physicochemical, functional and nutritional properties of a particular variety and have a great impact on consumer preferences (Dendy 2005; Singh et al. 2011). The physicochemical properties of grains have been widely investigated with respect to the variety difference. Large pools of rice genotypes differ in their amylose content which was investigated for the variability of their flour by examining their functional properties (Lin et al. 2011). Moreover the development of specific rice-based products depends on physicochemical properties of rice varieties. Hence, the knowledge about the characterization of rice varieties is important for the industry to develop the desired rice products with