Cooking quality of rice is a potential predictor to identify low starch digestibility rice

Surge in diabetes cases and its expensive management cost are major constraints leading to reduced rice consumption. Therefore, screening of low glycaemic index (GI) rice along with better cooking quality is a cost-effective approach for diabetes management. In 103 diverse rice germplasms analysed for starch digestibility parameters, GI was observed between 52.72 (EC 966576) and 73.46 (IC 200559), whereas resistant starch (RS) and amylose content (AC) were found in the range of 0.31-2.26% and 3.52-22.31%, respectively. On the other hand, water uptake (WU), gel consistency (GC) and alkali spreading value (ASV) were estimated to check possible linkage between these cooking quality parameters and starch digestibility. A significant positive correlation (r = 0.84, r = 0.95) was found between GI and ASV, WU. However, GC showed a significant negative correlation (r = -0.90) with GI. These cooking quality parameters can be used as an alternative approach to identify low-starch digestibility rice. Milled rice consumption leads to develop type II diabetes. Low glycaemic index rice produces low blood glucose helps in controlling sugar level in diabetic patients. Resistant starch is an important indicator that helps in lowering starch digestibility. Cooking quality of rice is a good predictor to identify low starch digestibility rice. image