Singh and Singh Greener Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol. 9(2), pp. 138-145, 2019 ISSN: 2276-7770 Copyright ©2019, the copyright of this article is retained by the author(s) DOI Link: http://doi.org/10.15580/GJAS.2019.2.022819041 http://gjournals.org/GJAS The Nutritional Composition of Local Rice Varieties in Guyana Narita Singh1 and Dharamdeo Singh2 1 Food Safety & Quality Assurance Researcher / Head of Value-added & Post-harvest Department, Rice Research Station. 2 Lecturer, Faculty of Forestry & Agriculture, University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article No.: 022819041 Type: Research DOI: 10.15580/GJAS.2019.2.022819041 Rice is one of the most popular cereals worldwide, one of Guyana’s major staple foods produced and consumed. With most of the population dependent on rice as a significant part of their diet, it becomes critical to analyze and monitor its composition. This project was aimed at comparatively analyzing four different local rice varieties cultivated in Guyana and one candidate line for proximate chemical components, vitamins and mineral elements. 2kg of paddy of each variety/line was harvested from pre-basic plots and were cleaned and shelled. Analyses were done by Kaizen Environmental Services Inc. All methods were carried out based on the AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists) method. In this study, the genetic diversity of the rice varieties/lines was reflected by the range of nutritional characteristics. There was no variety that was superior to another in terms of its overall nutritional content; however, there were some that recorded higher levels of one or more nutrients. The average protein was relatively high in both cargo and polished rice (8.50% and 7.78% respectively). Carbohydrates, present in the largest amount in all 5 varieties, ranged from 70.94% to 73.57% for cargo/brown rice and 73.85% to 77.11% for polished rice. It was also observed that the degree of milling also influenced the nutritional composition of the grain. The unpolished /brown/cargo rice contained higher amounts of all nutrients except carbohydrates when compared to the polished/white rice. The effect of poor nutritional value of rice can result in short life expectation, the prevalence of diseases, poor physical development and reduced working capacity; and so it is important that rice produced meets the requirements for its population. Submitted: 28/02/2019 Accepted: 05/03/2019 Published: 09/04/2019 *Corresponding Author Narita Singh E-mail: singh.narita14@ gmail.com Keywords: nutrient composition, proximate nutrients, minerals, vitamins Return to Content View [Full Article – PDF] [Full Article – HTML] [Full Article – EPUB] Post-Publication Peer-review Rundown View/get involved, click [Peer-review] REFERENCES Ensminger, A. H and M. K. Ensminger. (1986). Food for Health: A Nutrition Encyclopedia. Pegus Press, Clovis, California, 106-108 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2006) Rice International Commodity Profile.http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/est/COMM_MARKETS_MONITORING/Rice/Documents/Rice_Profile_Dec-06.pdf Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2004) Rice and Human Nutrition. http://www.fao.org/rice2004/en/f-sheet/factsheet3.pdf Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (1993) Rice in Human Nutrition. http://books.irri.org/9251031495_content.pdf Frei, M. and K. Becker. (2005) On Rice, Biodiversity and Nutrients. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.548.7529&rep=rep1& type=pdf Juliano, B. O. and D. B. Bechtel. (1985) The Rice Grain And Its Gross Composition. Rice Chemistry and Technology,2nd ed., p. 17-57. St Paul, MN, USA, Am. Assoc. Cereal Chem. Mbatchou, V. C. and S. Dawda. (2012) The Nutritional Composition of Four Rice Varieties Grown and Used in Different Food Preparations in Kassena-Nankana District, Ghana. International Journal of Research in Chemistry and Environment. 3(1): 308-315. http://www.ijrce.org/uploads/20/1034_pdf.pdf Pedersen, B. and B. O. Eggum. (1983) The Influence Of Milling On The Nutritive Value Of Flour from Cereal Grains IV. Rice. Qual. Plant. Plant Foods Human Nutrition. 33:267-278. Rohman, A., S. Helmiyati, M. Hapsari and D. L. Setyaningrum. (2014) Rice In Health And Nutrition. International Food Research Journal 21(1): 13-24. http://www.ifrj.upm.edu.my/21%20 (01)%202014/2%20IFRJ%2021%20(01)%202014%20Rohman% 20430.pdf Vetha varshini P. A, Azhagu sundharam K., and Vijay Praveen P. (2013) Brown Rice – Hidden Nutrients. Journal of Bioscience and Technology. Vol 4(1), 2013, 503-507. http://jbstonline.com/documents/vol4issue1/jbst2013040101.pdf Cite this Article: Singh N; Singh D (2019). The Nutritional Composition of Local Rice Varieties in Guyana. Greener Journal of Agricultural Sciences 9(2): 138-145, http://doi.org/10.15580/GJAS.2019.2.022819041.
