Characterizing the Interdependence of Amylose Composition, Gelatinization Temperature and Gel Consistency in Indigenous Rice of Assam, India
Debasmita Nath *
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-785013, India.
Sanjay Kumar Chetia
Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-785013, India.
Jyoti Lekha Borah
Assam Rice Research Institute, Titabor, Assam-785630, India.
Akashi Sarma
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-785013, India.
Akhil Ranjan Baruah
Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-785013, India.
Sunayana Rathi
Department of Biochemistry, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-785013, India.
Kishore Kumar Sharma
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-785013, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aims: This study evaluated the variation and interrelationships of amylose content, gelatinisation temperature and gel consistency among traditional Bora rice landraces of Assam.
Study Design: An augmented randomised complete block design was used.
Place and Duration: The experiment was conducted at the Assam Rice Research Institute, Titabor, during the 2025 kharif season.
Methodology: Fifty-six Bora rice germplasm accessions and five check genotypes were included in the evaluation. Thirty-day-old seedlings were transplanted at a spacing of 20 cm × 15 cm. Amylose content was estimated from rice flour, gelatinisation temperature was assessed through alkali spreading value, and gel consistency was measured using a gel-length test. Pearson correlation and principal component analyses were used to examine the relationships among the recorded physicochemical traits.
Results: Of the 56 landraces, 43 were classified as waxy, 11 had very low amylose content and two had low amylose content. Gelatinisation temperature was classified as low in 32 accessions, intermediate in 14 and high in 10. Soft gel consistency was observed in 55 accessions; only Abor Bora exhibited intermediate gel consistency. No statistically significant correlations were identified among the studied traits. Two principal components with eigenvalues greater than one together explained 72.282% of the observed variation.
Conclusion: The evaluated landraces exhibited variation in key physicochemical grain-quality traits, supporting their consideration as potential genetic resources in rice improvement programmes.
Keywords: Amylose, gelatinization temperature, correlation, landraces