Abstract
About a million ton of rice is produced in Hokkaido Province, but a very little study on the taste of thee rice has been done compared with that produced in Honshu Islands.
To elucidate the cause of this poor taste, amylose contents of rice starches were analyzed . Starch specimens were obtained from different varieties of rice grown in different experimental fields of Hokkaido and Honshu during three harvesting years .
Clear difference was found between the amylose contents of rice starches obtained from Hokkaido and Honshu. Namely, the amylose contents of Hokkaido rice starches were 21.1 24.5%, while those of Honshu rice starches were 17.621.4% .
These differences depended mainly on rice varieties. However, some dependence was also found on location and weather of the experimental fields in the case of the same rice varieties, suggesting that peaty soil and cold weather will cause high amylose content.
Thus, it was suggested that higher amylose content is one of the cause of the poor taste of rice grown in Hokkaido.
