Evaluation of gelatinization properties in Iranian rice varieties by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)

Rice cooking and eating quality are the most important factors for accepting a variety by consumers. To determine the accurate gelatinization properties of rice starch with Little and Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) methods, this research was carried out on 10Iranian rice varieties. All varieties were similar in amylose content and gelatinization score with Little method. The starch properties such as gelatinization enthalpy (ΔH), onest temperature (T0), peak temperature (Tp), conclusion temperature (Tc) were measured by using of the curve derived from DSC. Analysis of variance showed significant differences between studied varieties for gelatinization parameters obtained from DSC method, but there weren’t the significant differences between varieties for gelatinization scores derived from Little’s method. The maximum and minimum enthalpy (ΔH) was observed in Domsorkh (11.48 j/g) and Hasssansaraee varieties (6.44 j/g), respectively, but Domsorkh and Hassansaraee varieties had similar scores for alkali spreading values from the Little’s method. In varieties with the same amylose content, lipid-amylose complex increase crystalline structure of starch so enthalpy for gelatinization will be increased. Data analysis showed that there was significant correlation between lipid content and enthalpy at 5% probability level. In mean comparisons between varieties, the minimum and maximum onest temperature (T0) were observed in Domsefid (64.82 oC) and Domsiah (67.7 oC) varieties, respectively. Also, there was the significant correlation between onest temperature and lipid content. Results from current research showed that the Little’s method is a rapid and economical method for selecting lines and varieties with suitable gelatinization properties (3-5 score), but DSC method can explain more details of cooking differences between varieties where Little’s method is unable to explain them.