Effects of drying conditions in hybrid dryer on the GABA rice properties

In this study, pre-germinated rough rice was dried under various conditions using a hybrid dryer that incorporated heat pump dryer with fluidized bed drying (FBD) system in order to compare with the single-stage drying by hot air dryer. The main objective was to investigate the effect of drying conditions on the cooking and physical properties, nutrients and sensorial qualities of GABA rice products. It appeared that the FBD at 100-140 °C led to noticeable increase of head rice yield. The germination process caused the decline of gelatinization enthalpy of brown rice flour, the change of pasting properties, the reduction of cooking time and escalation of the total phenolic content, antioxidant activity and GABA content. The FBD at higher temperature significantly raised the degree of starch gelatinization and caused longer cooking time, higher hardness and adhesiveness of cooked GABA rice. Three-stage drying comprising FBD at 60 °C for 10 min in the first stage followed by FBD at 100 °C in the second stage and then heat pump drying at 45 °C together with tempering step between drying stages was recommended due to its superior GABA rice product quality.