Valorization of rice milling residue: effect of infrared stabilization on biochemical properties of rice bran

The main objective of this work is to valorize the rice bran which is one of the rice milling residues and is considered as underutilized by-product. It is an excellent source of phenolics and antioxidant compounds and can be used as an alternative food. In the present work, the rice bran was stabilized by infrared heating of the brown rice before polishing and the effect of moisture content (10, 12 and 14 % wb), heating time (30, 60 and 90 s) and distance of heater from brown rice layer (40, 60 and 80 mm) on the biochemical properties of rice bran obtained from infrared heated brown rice had been studied. The results demonstrated that there was a significant (p0.05) effect on the total phenol content, DPPH scavenging activity and total flavonoid content. The total phenol content, DPPH scavenging activity and total flavonoid content of all rice bran obtained from infrared heated brown rice was ranged from 616.48±3.75 to 740.98±2.38 mg/100g, 91.20±1.21 to 95.82±1.35 % and 234.13±1.18 to 789.53±3.31 QE/100g respectively and found to be higher than that of raw rice bran. The effect on browning index of infrared stabilized bran was found to be significant.