[Nutritional evaluation of rice flour fermented with Rhizopus oligosporus]

In order to increase the proteic content of rice meal, fermentation with Rhizopus oligosporus was performed. During fermentation, samples were taken at the times of 0,20,30,40,50,60,70 and 80 hours. These samples were oven dried and further analysed. The amino acid composition of rice meal had lysine and threonine the most limiting ones. After fermentation the lysine content increase and the more limiting were the sulfur amino acids methionine and cystine (76.04%), threonine (91.03%) and lysine (97,04%. With the aim of verifying the biological value of the protein a bioassay was carried out. The fermented rice meal presented a higher digestibility value and the net protein utilization for the fermented rice meal lower than for the non fermented one.