Exploring the best approach of gab a rice production from UKM's rice varieties

Abstract

GABA is believed to bring benefit to human beings but very little is known about the production of GABA from brown rice in Malaysia especially from UKM's rice varieties. This study aims to determine the best approach to produce GABA rice from germinating two of UKM's brown rice varieties, i.e. UKMRC2 and UKMRC9. Several factors such as soaking time, sprouting time, temperature, water pH in the germinating process were studied in order to acquire the best conditions to obtain the highest value of GABA content. This study has great potential for commercialisation in which sponsors will be sought and intellectual property will be registered. To explore the best approach for GABA production, the researcher conducted the study in three phases. The first phase was to observe the soaking process on the two rice varieties, in which the sample of UKMRC2 was found unsuitable and the soaking time of approaching 12 hours lead to fermentation thus producing bad odour. In the second phase, UKMRC9 was tested systematically for soaking duration of 6, 8, 10, and 12 hours with the temperature of 35°C, 40°C, and 45°C. The third phase was conducted with triplicate sampling for temperature of 30°C, 35°C, 40°C, and 45°C at single soaking time of 6 hrs as encountered to be the best duration in the second phase. Statistical analyses on germination percentage and GABA content showed that 35°5°C yielded the highest percentage of sprouted rice, while 45°C produced no germination. Further analysis on GABA content was conducted in which 35°C yielded the best result with M = 0.4027 mg/g, followed by 30°C with M= 0.2937 mg/g and 40°C withM = 0.1003 mg/g. No GABA content was detected in the 45°C rice sample. Therefore, 35°C was determined to be the best soaking temperature for the UKMRC9 rice variety.