Investigating the impact of soil salinity on physicochemical attributes and molecular structure of rice starch and finding their connection with functional attributes of cooked rice

Rice, the world's second most cultivable crop and staple food for about half of the human population, poses an increasing threat to yield and quality deterioration by abiotic stressors, particularly salinity stress in coastal, arid and semi-arid regions.

Over the years, researchers' efforts have been restricted to improving rice yield by genetic modification and agricultural practices, with less focus on the qualitative properties of rice.

Understanding the fact that quality attributes of rice starch and cooked rice depend on the structural architecture of starch, the proposed research aims to understand the correlation between the molecular structure of rice starch, physicochemical attributes of the rice starch (crystallinity, rheological properties, thermal properties), functional properties of cooked rice (cooking time and texture) and in vitro starch digestibility when different rice cultivars (salt-sensitive, salt-tolerant and salt tolerance landraces) cultivated at low, medium and high salinity-stressed soil in Sundarban region.

SALTRICE will use advanced molecular structure characterisation techniques, the ""Backbone building block model"", to understand structural changes in the rice starch.

SALTRICE outcomes will help plant biotechnologists and breeders to take new strategies to modify their breeding approach and develop salt-tolerant rice cultivars with improved yield and quality attributes.

The results will also provide significant insights to food technologists to modify and optimize process parameters for processing of salt-tolerant rice and its products.

This project includes the transfer of knowledge, training of the researcher on advanced analytical equipment and starch chemistry, network building and enhancing the capability of the researcher to do independent and collaborative research.

The proposed project also aligns with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations to strengthen food security and nutrition.