An Analytical Approach on Physicochemical and Molecular Characterization of Imported Rice in Ghana: Implications for Developing Product Targets for Breeding New Varieties

Rice is the fastest growing food source in Ghana. The country however, imports about 60% of its rice
requirement due to low volumes of production and poor grain quality of domestic rice compared to
imported ones. In this study, ten popular imported rice brands on the Ghanaian market were
characterized for grain quality traits including grain dimensions, apparent amylose content,
gelatinization temperature, paste viscosity properties and aroma using physiochemical properties and
DNA markers. The rice brands came from Asia and the USA. The rice type from Asia was found to be
Jasmine-styled aromatic long grain with low amylose content and low gelatinization temperature
whereas those of USA were conventional long grain with intermediate amylose content and
intermediate gelatinization temperature. The DNA marker revealed the presence of TAC and GCC
waxy gene SNP haplotypes in rice types from Asia and the USA, and respectively. The implication of
this study for the development of product targets for plant breeding is discussed.