Abstract
The relation between the palatability of rice and the value of mido (taste) meter (mido value) or rapid visco analyser characteristics (RVA characteristics) were examined to select highly palatable lines efficiently in rice breeding. The correlation of palatability with the mido value or consistency of RVA charactaristics was high, and the heritability of the mido value and the consistency were also high. We adopted the principal component analysis by using the correlation matrix of mido value and RVA characteristics to judge the characteristics of the highly palatable cultivars and lines. The first chief ingredient was the factor related to the following four characteristics; minimum viscosity, final viscosity, the consistency of RVA characteristics and mido value, which were thought to show the degree of aging of cooked rice. In addition, the heritability of these four characteristics was high and stable. The second chief ingredient was the factor related to the following two characteristics; peak viscosity and breakdown value, which were thought to show the rates of swelling and collapse of cooked rice, respectively. The two characteristics showed low heritability and were influenced by enviromental factors. In cooked rice of Koshihikari, the aging was slow and rates of swelling and collapse were high. Thus, the mido value and RVA characteristics would be useful to select highly palatable rice lines.
