Grain quality characteristics of Ofada rice (Oryza sativa L.): Cooking and eating quality

A study was conducted to evaluate the cooking and eating quality of Ofada rice. Quality parameters measured were; volume increase, grain elongation (GE), water uptake (WU), cooking time (CT), solids in cooking gruel (SCW), gelatinization temperature (GT) and amylose content (AC). The result showed that Ofada rice had high cooked rice volume with length and breadth increase of 152.54% and 87.85% respectively. GE ratio ranged from 1.24-1.75 with Ofada 10 having the lowest value and Ofada 11 having the highest value. The highest length/breadth ratio of cooked rice (3.68) was recorded by Ofada 8, while Ofada 3 had the lowest (2.49). GE index ranged from 0.99-1.44 with Ofada 10 having the lowest value and Ofadas 4 and 11 having the highest value. WU ratio, CT, SCW and AC of Ofada rice samples ranged from 174.0-211.0, 17-24 min, 0.8-2.1%, and 19.77-24.13% respectively. The GT were low to intermediate. There was significant positive correlation between AC and WU ratio, while significant positive association was observed between length/breadth ratio and AC. Based on the result of the study, Ofada rice have good cooking and eating quality, hence selection for improvement based on this parameters will be a right step in the right direction.