A cooking and eating quality evaluating system for whole grain black rice

Black rice has a long history of cultivation in Asia especially China. As a whole grain, black rice is rich in diverse nutrients including proteins, vitamins, amino acids, minerals, unsaturated fatty acids, dietary fibers, alkaloids, carotenes, phenolic compounds, and anthocyanins, in addition to starch. Many studies have demonstrated a range of health-promoting effects by black rice, which has greatly attracted the attention of consumers. However, the production and consumption of black rice has been low mostly because of its poor cooking and eating quality. To address this problem, the first is a need for technology to evaluate the cooking and eating quality of black rice. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using Rice Taste Evaluation System (RTES) as a proxy approach to eating and cooking quality evaluation of whole grain black rice (WGBR). Totally, 775 black rice samples obtained from 363 accessions harvested from field planting were evaluated both with sensory evaluation by panelists and with RTES consisting of a cooked rice taste analyzer and a hardness and stickiness meter, which produced 8 characteristic parameters. We obtained highly significant correlation (R ²  = 0.867, P < 2.2 × 10^-16) between sensory test scores and RTES values by multiple linear regression equation based on the selected variables, which was validated with just as high correlation, indicating that the RTES can provide equivalent results the sensory test. With the efficiency of this equipment, the RTES can provide a convenient and accurate tool for high throughput evaluation of cooking and eating quality of WGBR for breeding and other usages.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-024-01535-z.