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U.S. rice industry—Quality issues and potential solutions
S. LINSCOMBE (1). (1) LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station, Rayne, LA, U.S.A.

U.S. long-grain rice has historically been considered the quality standard of the world. In recent years, however, some domestic and international customers have complained about quality components of southern U.S. long-grain rice. A 2012 study evaluated differences in U.S. long-grain cultivars grown in similar environments for objective and subjective quality traits. In this project, 19 southern U.S. inbred varieties and hybrids were grown in 11 environments. Samples generated in these studies were milled to a consistent degree using near-infrared spectroscopy technology. The study also included imported milled rice samples from Uruguay and Thailand. Samples were evaluated by 10 southern U.S. commercial rice mills for bran streaks, chalk, kernel color, uniformity of grain length and overall appearance. Several other quality parameters were measured by the USDA Rice Quality Lab in Stuttgart, AR, and by the Rice Experiment Station in Biggs, CA. The study did confirm that there are inherent differences among the major commercially available pure line varieties and hybrids in all of the rice grain quality traits that were evaluated. Some varieties consistently scored more favorably for the important quality traits than did others. In order to improve the overall quality of the southern U.S. long-grain rice crop, there must be an economic incentive for rice producers to plant those rice varieties that have higher quality but perhaps not the highest yield potential. Some of the rice mills in the region have begun recently to offer price premiums to producers for varieties that typically display better grain appearance, improving quality in localized areas. However, it will take a similar price premium program across the entire southern U.S. rice belt to have a major impact on improving the overall quality of the majority of the long-grain rice produced in the region.

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