Vegetos

Abstract

Attempts were made to utilize papain enzyme for the stabilization of rice bran. Rice bran was treated with different concentrations of papain. Free fatty acid concentration (FFA), an indicator of hydrolytic rancidity, was measured at different durations of storage. The effect of three factors viz. concenntration of enzyme (mg per 100g of rice bran), duration of enzymatic treatment (min.) and duration of storage (days) was studied on four responses viz. % FFA content, % oil content, % fibre and % protein content of rice bran. Experiments were conducted using Response Surface Methodology. Based on optimization, the recommended concentration was 50 mg papain enzyme per 100 g bran, with 60 min treatment duration and 15 days of storage at 4°C. The predicted value for FFA at 15^th day was 9.27%, that of total fat, protein and fibre levels were 18.46, 16.27 and 8.21% respectively.