Evaluation of Biochemical Properties of Traditional Rice Varieties of Tamil Nadu

Rice is a reliable dietary source in most of the underdeveloped nations, where the majority of people are deficient in minerals and vitamins. Hence, it is necessary to focus on the development of nutrient rich rice for value addition in order to alleviate malnutrition. Dietary fibre, minerals, carotenoids, flavonoids and polyphenols are abundant in traditional rice cultivars and consumption of these traditional rice cultivars, on the other hand, benefits human health. Now-a-days, traditional rice varieties are gaining importance and it is cultivated by a large number of farmers. These varieties play a major role in the history of crop improvement and seed production. Hence, an experiment has been conducted to analyse the bio chemical properties viz.,a-amylase activity, dehydrogenase activity and total phenol content in sixteen traditional rice varieties viz., Mappillai samba, Kichadi samba, Vellaikavuni, Rajamannar, Sembuli samba, Kattuyanam, Karunkuruvai, Norungan, Poongar, Kuzhiyadichan, Chithiraikar, Paalthondi, Maranel, Salem sanna, Kallurundai kar and Illuppai poo samba which were collected from the gene pool of Department of Plant Genetic Resource, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. Among the varieties tested, the maximum a-amylase activity and dehydrogenase activity were recorded by Sembuli samba (4.88 mg maltose min-1), Poongar (3.40 mg maltose min-1), Maranel (3.40 mg maltose min-1) and Maranel (0.609), Salem sanna (0.596), Vellaikavuni (0.562), Karunkuruvai (0.522), respectively. The total phenol content was maximum in Sembuli samba (45.36 mg/100g), Kattuyanam (42.34 mg/100g), Mappillai samba (38.84 mg/100g) and Kallurundai kar (38.24 mg/100g). Among the sixteen traditional varieties, Sembuli samba, Kattuyanam, Mappillai samba and Kallurundai kar have the high secondary metabolites with improved seed quality. The results of this experiment revealed that the above traditional rice varieties have to be conserved its precious genome information due to their superior performance of a-amylase activity and dehydrogenase activity as well as maximum phenol content.