Palatability characteristics of recent local-brand-rice cultivars

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study was carried out to clarify the actual eating quality of 33 recent cultivars of local-brand-rice and the relationship between overall eating-quality, physicochemical properties, and rice market prices. Furthermore, the local-brand-rice cultivars were grouped using principal component analysis. The overall eating-quality evaluation of the 33 LBR cultivars were at the same level or superior to that of the check cultivar Hinohikari, which is a highly palatable rice cultivar. Multiple regression analysis showed that taste contributed the most to overall eating-quality, followed by stickiness and appearance, and aroma contributed the least. No significant relationship was found between protein and amylose contents and eating quality. In contrast, moisture content showed a positive correlation with eating quality, suggesting that the improvement in eating quality with increasing moisture content was due to the decrease in the H/-H ratio of cooked rice. Although a significant positive correlation was observed between eating quality and the rice market price, the multiple correlation coefficient was 0.47, indicating that eating quality evaluation was not highly reflected in the rice market price. Principal component analysis, using the values of eating quality evaluation items in the sensory test as variables, classified the palatability characteristics of each LBR cultivars into four categories. Thus, the eating quality of the recent LBR cultivars are excellent, and the taste and moisture content are play a major role in the overall eating-quality, and the degree of reflection of the eating quality evaluation on the market price was not necessarily high.