Analysis of genotypic diversity in the starch physicochemical properties of nonwaxy rice: Apparent amylose content, pasting viscosity and gel texture

A total of 499 non-waxy rice lines including 172 landraces (the landrace set) and 327 cultivars and breeding lines (the breeding line set) were used to study the genetic diversity of starch physicochemical properties, and the differences between the landrace set and the breeding line set were compared. All the rice lines were planted in the same season and at the same location in Hainan province. Wide diversities of starch physicochemical properties were found, e.g. apparent amylose content ranged from 7.9% to 33% in normal rice and up to 39.8% in an amylose extender mutant; peak viscosity ranged from 90.1 to 305.4 RVU, hot paste viscosity from 77.5 to 248.1 RVU, and cold paste viscosity from 111.4 to 412.6 RVU; gel hardness ranged from 9.4 to 61.1 g. The breeding line set had a wider range of physicochemical properties than the landrace set with a rare exception in gel hardness. The mean values of nearly all the parameters showed significant differences between the two sets of rice except for the setback ratio. The adhesiveness and cohesiveness of landrace starches were significantly lower than those of the breeding lines whereas the other parameters of the landrace set were higher than those of the breeding line set. Analysis of correlation among these parameters indicated that most of the traits were significantly correlated. The wide range of physicochemical properties among non-waxy rice lines allows breeders to obtain breeding lines with desirable grain quality and food processors to select unique rice materials for specialty food processing, in addition to the applications in other processing industries.