Research and development interventions in the African rice sector have mainly focused on increasing farm-level production, with little attention paid to processing and quality-enhancement issues, which play major roles in adding value to rice and rice-based products. The aim of this study was to investigate the starch and protein properties of rice varieties popularly cultivated in Africa in order to identify which varieties could be most suitable for the development of various specific food products. These products may include pasta, pasta-like products, and a large variety of ready-to-eat rice-based foods. A number of African varieties representative of various localities and produced in commercially significative amounts were selected on the basis of distinctive physical and chemical parameters. Starch properties and protein content in individual samples were characterized by standard chemical methods. In selected cases, structural organization of starch was investigated by measuring susceptibility to selective enzymatic activities. Viscoamilography was used to investigate possible relationships between structural features and the pasting behavior of starch. Information on the protein pattern in selected varieties was gathered by electrophoresis, and the accessibility of specific residues and of specific regions that may be involved in determining the properties of products was determined by appropriate reagents and spectroscopic approaches. The approaches presented seem able to provide useful insights for determining the intrinsic structural characteristics of starch and proteins in various African rice varieties. Further studies will verify whether this information will be able to help identify appropriate processing and the possible end uses of some of the materials investigated. This work was supported by the New Products' Project from the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP).
Molecular features of protein and starch in African rice relate to their processing behavior
Marengo M;
2013-01-01
Abstract
Research and development interventions in the African rice sector have mainly focused on increasing farm-level production, with little attention paid to processing and quality-enhancement issues, which play major roles in adding value to rice and rice-based products. The aim of this study was to investigate the starch and protein properties of rice varieties popularly cultivated in Africa in order to identify which varieties could be most suitable for the development of various specific food products. These products may include pasta, pasta-like products, and a large variety of ready-to-eat rice-based foods. A number of African varieties representative of various localities and produced in commercially significative amounts were selected on the basis of distinctive physical and chemical parameters. Starch properties and protein content in individual samples were characterized by standard chemical methods. In selected cases, structural organization of starch was investigated by measuring susceptibility to selective enzymatic activities. Viscoamilography was used to investigate possible relationships between structural features and the pasting behavior of starch. Information on the protein pattern in selected varieties was gathered by electrophoresis, and the accessibility of specific residues and of specific regions that may be involved in determining the properties of products was determined by appropriate reagents and spectroscopic approaches. The approaches presented seem able to provide useful insights for determining the intrinsic structural characteristics of starch and proteins in various African rice varieties. Further studies will verify whether this information will be able to help identify appropriate processing and the possible end uses of some of the materials investigated. This work was supported by the New Products' Project from the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP).
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