摘要：Background and Objective: Brown rice is attaining an increase in demand due to its nutritional and health benefits, therefore, improving its milling quality during processing are of utmost importance. This study evaluate the effect of processing parameters on the milling quality (total brown rice recovery and whole grain brown rice yield) of brown rice obtained from two high yielding improved Nigerian rice varieties (FARO 44 and NERICA 8). Materials and Methods: The effect of processing parameters; soaking temperature (65-75°C), soaking duration (10-16 h), steaming duration (20-30 min) and paddy moisture content (12-16%) on total brown rice recovery and whole grain brown rice yield were studied using Taguchi orthogonal array approach. Different treatment combinations were obtained by L9 (34) of Taguchi orthogonal array. Results: The larger is better signal to noise ratio of Taguchi gave the optimum processing condition combination. The optimum processing conditions for total brown rice recovery and whole grain brown rice yield, varied significantly based on the rice variety. Paddy moisture content and soaking temperature had considerable influence on total brown rice recovery of FARO 44 and NERICA 8 while soaking duration and steaming duration were found to have more influence on whole grain brown rice yield of FARO 44 and NERICA 8. Conclusion: Optimum processing conditions increases total brown rice recovery and whole grain brown rice yield.
