Rice proteins are nutritional, hypoallergenic, and healthy for human consumption. Protein is one of the most important factors affecting eating and processing qualities of rice. Therefore, we examined effects of cultivar and amount of nitrogen (N) fer...
Rice proteins are nutritional, hypoallergenic, and healthy for human consumption. Protein is one of the most important factors affecting eating and processing qualities of rice. Therefore, we examined effects of cultivar and amount of nitrogen (N) fertilizer on the content and composition of proteins in rice grains. Rice cultivars used in this study were cvs. Hopumbyeo, Baekok-chalbyeo, Baeksul-chalbyeo, Bosuk-chalbyeo, Dongjin-chalbyeo, Haepyung-chalbyeo, Hwasun-chalbyeo, Jinbu-chalbyeo, and Sangjoo-chalbyeo. The amounts of N fertilizer applied were 0, 7, 9, and 13 kg/10a. There was a considerable variation in crude protein contents, ranging from 6.6 to 9.7% and 5.7 to 8.5%, respectively, in brown and milled rice of the nine test cultivars. There was also a significant varietal variation in content of the four protein fractions. The mean contents of albumin, globulin, prolamin, and glutelin fractions of brown rice were 1.79, 0.48, 0.05, and 6.94%, respectively. Those of milled rice were 0.51, 0.31, 0.1, and 8.07%, respectively. Prolamin content was 1.4~2.5 times higher in waxy-rice than in non-waxy rice cultivars. Albumin, globulin, prolamin, and glutelin fractions for brown and milled rice were composed of seven, five, one, and five major bands, respectively, and no cultivar- or tissue-specific variations were apparent in the fractional profiles. With the increased N levels, content of crude protein was gradually increased with concomitant increase in all protein fractions. The ratios of protein fractions were similar in brown and milled rice at all N fertilizer levels. Little differences were observed in the number of major protein bands between brown and milled rice at any N level. These results suggest that N fertilizer causes quantitative but not qualitative changes in major fractions of rice proteins. Increase in the crude protein content and glutelin fraction with increased N fertilization could be beneficial for human nutrition but detrimental for general eating quality of rice.