Changes in the feeding behavior and habitat use of the desert hedgehog Paraechinus aethiopicus (Ehrenberg 1832, Eulipotyphla: Erinaceidae), in Saudi Arabia

Due to the urbanization and human invasion of the natural environments, great changes have been occurred on the food composition and feeding ecology of several animals especially those are sharing human his habitat in fields, wadis and gardens. The desert hedgehogs Paraechinus aethiopicus populations inhabiting different localities in Saudi Arabia were studied by using stomach contents analysis between February 2015 and October 2019. Precise analysis of stomach contents of 55 hedgehogs showed that the food of P. aethiopicus is highly diverse and highly influenced with effect of human on the environment including cooked rice, insects, plant materials, eggshells, worms, garbage and remnants of mammals and birds. Diet composition showed seasonal variations that are apparently associated with changes in the availability of different food items. The present results clearly showed that P. aethiopicus is an omnivorous mammal, capable of adapting to a great variety of dietary compositions in the study sites.

Deciphering the effect of different nitrogen doses on grain protein content, quality attributes and yield related traits of rice

Understanding the gravity of nutritional significance of rice (Oryza sativa L.) protein, an experiment conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) involving effect of nitrogen (N) rates i.e.,140 kg N/ha, 120 kg N/ha, 100 kg N/ha and 80 kg N/ha on grain protein content, yield parameters and cooking characteristics of polished rice from eight rice genotypes was conducted. N application significantly affected the grain protein content, grain yield, head rice recovery, plant height and effective tillers. In high protein cultivars substantially low to intermediate amylose content and more cooking time was recorded while in low protein counterpart amylose content was comparatively high with low cooking time. Maximum cooking time in polished rice was of 25 min at 180 kg N/ha dose and highest amylose content of about 27% at 80 kg N/ha. Gumminess and hardness of cooked rice and cooking time significantly elevated with increase in N dose. The substantial differences in grain protein content in brown, polished and cooked rice was observed. Cooking revealed the significant increase in protein content ranged from 50%-70% in low protein to high protein genotypes. R-RGM-ATN-47 with highest grain yield of 62.13 q/ha, grain protein content of 10.00 % in polished rice and intermediate amylose appears to be the most promising candidate.

High Resistant Starch Rice: Variation in Starch Related SNPs, and Functional, and Sensory Properties

Human diets containing greater resistant starch (RS) are associated with superior glycemic control. Although high amylose rice has higher RS (29 g/kg to 44 g/kg) than lower amylose content varieties, sensory and processing properties associated with RS have not been evaluated. This study used variants of Waxy and starch synthase II a (SSIIa) genes to divide high amylose (256 g/kg to 284 g/kg) varieties into three haplotypes to examine their effects on RS, RVA parameters, and 14 cooked rice texture properties. RVA characteristics were influenced by both genes with peak and hotpaste viscosity differentiating the three haplotypes. Setback from hotpaste viscosity was the only RVA parameter correlated with RS content across three haplotypes (r = −0.76 to −0.93). Cooked rice texture attributes were impacted more by Waxy than by SSIIa with initial starch coating, roughness, and intact particles differentiating the three haplotypes. Pairwise correlation (r = 0.46) and PCA analyses suggested that roughness was the only texture attribute associated with RS content; while protein content influenced roughness (r = 0.49) and stickiness between grains (r = 0.45). In conclusion, variation exists among genetic haplotypes with high RS for sensory traits that will appeal to diverse consumers across the globe with limited concern for negatively affecting grain processing quality.

Different serving shapes of cooked jasmine rice on a plate affect the consumer's visual preference

This research aimed to investigate how five different serving shapes of cooked jasmine rice (round, square, triangular, flower, and heart shapes) affected visual hedonic preference and consumer perception (n = 100). Cooked rice was placed on a plate without food, the heart, flower, and triangle serving shapes had higher artistic mean scores than the round shape. And cooked rice placed in the shape of a heart on a plate with food had a higher mean score on ‘liking in shape’ than round or square shapes. The findings of this study could be beneficial to food styling, presenting, and catering in the foodservice industry, resulting in increased sales, particularly in restaurants and hotels. Furthermore, for more successful food marketing and advertising, one can use the shapes of a heart as a serving shape for cooked jasmine rice box labels.

Starch Morphology and Metabolomic Analyses Reveal That the Effect of High Temperature on Cooked Rice Elongation and Expansion Varied in Indica and Japonica Rice Cultivars

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is mainly grouped into indica and japonica varieties. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of temperature on cooked rice elongation, cooked rice expansion, and rice fragrance. This study was conducted in three growth temperature chambers with indica cultivar Basmati 385 (B385) and japonica cultivar Yunjingyou (YJY). Grains of B385 grown in low-temperature regimes had the highest cooked rice elongation and expansion, whereas the grains of YJY grown in high-temperature regimes had the highest cooked rice elongation and expansion. Starch granules of B385 grown in low-temperature regimes were more compact and bigger, compared to grains grown in medium- and high-temperature regimes. Conversely, the starch granules of YJY grown in high-temperature regimes were more compact and bigger, compared to those grown in medium- and low-temperature regimes. Metabolomic analyses showed that temperature affected the rice metabolome and revealed that cyclohexanol could be responsible for the differences observed in cooked rice elongation and expansion percentage. However, in both B385 and YJY, grains from low-temperature regimes had the highest 2-AP content and the lowest expression levels of the badh2 gene. The findings of this study will be useful to rice breeders and producers.

US Consumers’ Perceptions of Raw and Cooked Broken Rice

Rice supplies about 20% of the calories to the world’s consumers. Milling removes the outer husk and bran, breaking about 20% of the rice kernels during the milling process that equates to almost 100,000,000 tons of rice annually. Broken rice is discounted in price by almost half or relegated to non-human consumption. This study seeks to understand why this large percentage of rice production is discounted for human consumption. Consumers who routinely consume rice evaluated raw and cooked rice with 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% levels of brokens. Sensory analysis indicated the appearance of raw rice with high levels of brokens affected the price consumers were willing to pay. Panelists were not able to discern sensory differences amongst cooked rice samples with different brokens percentages despite an eight-fold difference in brokens (p < 0.01). From this, we concluded that the price discounts imposed on broken rice are not because of perceived differences in the eating quality of cooked rice. Overall impression and overall texture were the two most significant determinants in willingness to purchase rice. The five cooked-rice samples with different levels of broken rice inclusion did not differ in terms of willingness to purchase.