Physico-chemical characteristics and non-starch polysaccharide contents of Indica and Japonica brown rice and their malts

Brown rice malt from Indica and Japonica type rice were prepared and their nutrient composition as well as non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) contents and also some of the physico-chemical characteristics were determined. The activity of α- and β-amylases in the ungerminated (native) rice was negligible but increased considerably on germination. Malting altered the chemical composition of both Indica and Japonica rice to a small extent but caused noticeable changes in the pasting characteristics. The free sugars and water-soluble non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) contents of the malt samples were considerably higher than the native samples. The carbohydrate elution profile of native and malted rice on Sepharose CL-2B revealed partial degradation of starch. However, the electrophoresis patterns of the native and malt samples were comparable but exhibited decrease in their band intensity. The study revealed that, controlled germination or malting causes considerable changes in the physico-chemical and bio-chemical properties of both Indica and Japonica rice.