A gas chromatography procedure for determining milled rice surface lipid content

Rice (Oryza sativa, L.) degree of milling (DM) is a quantification of the amount of bran that has been removed from kernels during the milling process. Historically it has been determined using a time-consuming continuous solvent extraction (CSE) procedure to measure the surface lipid content. The objective of this research was to develop a gas chromatography (GC) method for rice surface lipids. The GC procedure was highly correlated with several other methods for DM including a commonly used CSE procedure and it demonstrated repeatability within acceptable analytical limits. Other aspects in support of the utility of this procedure are that it requires a relatively small amount of sample, organic solvent, and technician time. Consequently, this GC method for rice surface lipids measurement is suitable for use in determining rice DM in cultivar development programs and studies that require the analysis of a large number of samples.