The Korean Journal of Crop Science ISSN:0252-9777(Print) 2287-8432(Online) 한국작물학회지

The sale of brown rice batches composed of rice produced in different years is prohibited in Korea. Thus, new methods for the identification of the year of production are critical for maintaining the distribution of high quality brown rice. Here, we describe the exploitation of an enzyme that can be used to discriminate between freshly harvested and one-year-old brown rice. The degree of enzyme activity was visualized through freshness test with Guaiacol, Oxydol, and p-phenylenediamine reagents. With electronic eye equipment, we selected 29 color codes for identifying new brown rice and old brown rice. The discrimination power of selected color codes showed a minimum of 0.263 to a maximum of 0.922 and an average value of 0.62. The accuracy with which new brown rice and old brown rice could be identified was 100% in principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant function analysis (DFA). The DFA analysis had greater discriminatory power than did the PCA analysis. A verification test using new brown rice, old brown rice, or a mixture of the two was then performed to validate our method. The accuracy of identification of new and old brown rice was 100% in both cases, whereas mixed brown rice samples were correctly classified at a rate of 96.9%. Additionally, in order to test whether the discriminant constructed in winter can be applied to samples collected in summer, new and old brown rice stored for 8 months were collected and tested. Both new and old brown rice collected in summer were classified as old brown rice and showed 50% identification accuracy. We were able to attribute these observations to changes in enzyme content over time, and therefore we conclude, it will be necessary to develop discriminants that are specific to distinct storage periods in the near future.