A report in 1960 (12) suggested that rice kernel components other than starch may influence

the cohesiveness of the cooked grain. The authors noted that starch has the capacity to swell up to
64 times its volume, though cooked rice does not swell nearly to this degree. Suppression of this
swelling in the starchy endosperm was postulated to be due to protein encasing the starch granules
and to cell walls.
Primo et al. (2) found that protein content, especially in the peripheral part of the kernel,
correlated with cooked rice texture. Cooked rice texture of rice high in protein tended to be tougher
and chewier than rice low in protein; the two factors weakly correlated. Oñate et al. (38) tested
three varieties, each taken from two different plots that produced grains markedly different in
protein content. Significant differences related to protein content were observed in sensory ratings
for flavor, tenderness, and cohesiveness (Table 1). Rice with lower protein content were more
flavorful, tender, and cohesive. Color, aroma, and amylose content were not affected by protein
content. Protein content did not, however, explain the texture differences among varieties, which
were attributed to amylose content.
Starch and protein interaction and texture:
Rice protein and starch gelatinization: Another constraint to starch gelatinization during the
cooking process may be the presence of proteins closely associated with the granule. It is
conceivable that starch granule associated protein could affect the manner in which the starch in
the granule gelatinizes and the manner in which the granule maintains its shape even when swollen.
Swelling potential of starch granules and dispersibility of the swollen, gelatinized granule have
been hypothesized as factors that may influence cooked rice texture (7,40,43). Bhattacharya et al.
(44) divided rice into eight types based on differences in texture and found that certain paste
viscosity parameters, such as Brabender amylograph "relative breakdown" viscosity, correlated
with texture of the whole cooked grain. Other viscometers were also used to differentiate the eight
rice types (37,45). Sandhya Rani and Bhattacharya (43) reported a peculiar phenomenon where at
low slurry concentration (5%) in the presence of shear, hot paste viscosity of low amylose rice
flour was higher than for high amylose flour, whereas, at high slurry concentration (12%) the
situation was reversed, with high amylose flour showing higher viscosity (Fig. 2). They postulated
that during the gelatinization process, low amylose granules swell to a greater extent than the more
rigid high amylose granules and at low concentration levels produce a more viscous paste. In
contrast, at high slurry concentration the greater fragility of the low amylose granules causes a
breakdown of its swollen structure due to the shearing of the swollen granules as they move against
each other, thereby resulting in a less viscous paste. This relative fragility or rigidity of the
gelatinized rice starch granule could relate directly to the textural attributes of stickiness and
firmness of cooked rice.
The observed lower viscosity after protein disruption in the presence of high shear was
thought to be due to an increase in the fragility of the swollen granules. Starch granule associated
protein may normally confer strength to the gelatinized granule by reducing the leaching of
amylose molecules or by physically "holding together" the granule. Hamaker and Griffin (46)
showed that degree of gelatinization increased when protein structure (disulfide bonds) were
cleaved. This may be related to the 60 kd protein, which is embedded in the starch granule (27,28)
and is present in higher amounts in high amylose rice. Hamaker et al. (5) found the correlation
between this protein and stickiness (r = 0.85, p < 0.01) to be similar to that between amylose
content and stickiness (r = 0.87, p < 0.01).