77 Novel instrumental techniques to evaluate rice germplasm quality.

J.-F. Meullenet. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Texture is an important attribute of food acceptance by consumers, and as such, an important constituent of cooked rice quality. Historically, rice breeding programs have devoted most of their efforts toward the development of high yielding varieties, adapted to cultivation under specific climatic conditions. Furthermore, rice quality evaluation has been limited to milling quality and general compositional characteristics such as amylose and amylopectin. As a result, there is a need for developing instrumental methods adapted to rice breeding programs needs. In recent years, several instrumental methods have been suggested as methods for predicting rice texture. In particular, Spectral Stress Strain Analysis, a method using multivariate analysis and artificial neural networks to model sensory perception of rice texture from mechanical testing, will be discussed in this presentation.