Preliminary studies on physical and nutritional qualities of some indigenous and important rice cultivars of north-eastern hill region of India

Abstract

The northeastern hills of India are endowed with rich source of rice germplasm, which may be safely estimated about 9,000 accessions, excluding the redundancies. Even though much of the germplasm have been collected, studies on nutritional aspects of these local cultivars are still lacking. Fifteen important indigenous rice genotypes collected from different rice growing ecosystem of this region were studied for physical and nutritional qualities. Kernel color of the genotypes varied from white to dark purple. All the genotypes except Manipuri were of bold-grain type. Most of the genotypes studied have fat contents more than 2.0%. The protein content was found higher in Chahou angouba and Naga special. Five cultivars were identified as high-protein cultivars of rice, with 10–12.07% protein content. Amylose content varied from 2.27 to 24.5%. Most of long-grained genotypes recorded lesser amylose than short grained. Chahou varieties were found aromatic and glutinous, which demand higher market prices in local market.