STUDIES ON EVALUATION OF GRAIN QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF SOME BASMATI AND NON-BASMATI RICE CULTIVARS

Physical, chemical and cooking properties of some newly developed basmati and non-basmati varieties of rice were studied, which showed significant variations within different quality parameters. The longer kernel length, intermediate amylose content, higher elongation after cooking, more water uptake ratio and strong aroma were found to be the distinctive features of evolved basmati rice cultivars like the traditional ones. There was significant correlation found between some of the important quality parameters of rice, such as paddy length breadth ratio showed a positive correlation with kernel length breadth ratio (r = 0.908), density (r = 0.801), cooked kernel length (r = 0.836) and a negative correlation with bulk density (r = -0.84). Amylose content showed a negative correlation with gel consistency (r = -0.974), solid loss in gruel (r = -0.856) while it is positively correlated with cooked kernel length (r = 0.937), elongation ratio (r = 0.829) and water uptake (r = 0.786) at 5% level of significance.