Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 7670 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 195 ­ – Rice R&D 2016 Chatchaporn Uraipong and Jian Zhao School of Chemical Engineering University of New South Wales T HE Australian rice industry faces a number of challenges including rising production costs, fluctuating water availability, climate change and competition from low-cost production countries. To remain internationally competitive and be able to provide a reasonable return to rice farmers, the industry needs to continually innovate. Among the innovation strategies, value-adding should be given top priority as it increases the value of the crop without requiring additional farmland, water and other agricultural resources. Rice bran makes up approximately 10– 12% of the rice grain. The Australian rice industry generates around 100,000 tonnes of rice bran based on its current production of rice (over 800,000 tonnes). Most of the bran is used as stockfeed, which provides a low return to SunRice and its shareholders. Rice bran comprises 12–16% protein with the remainder being carbohydrate, fat and ash. Research on dairy, legume and other cereal proteins shows that controlled hydrolysis of protein can produce hydrolysates with a wide range of health-benefitting properties including antioxidant, antidiabetic, blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering and anticancer effects. Ingredients with these properties are increasingly used in an ever-expanding range of nutraceutical and functional food products for preventing many chronic diseases prevalent in modern society. Globally, the functional food and nutraceutical market is estimated to be worth $168 billion and is projected to Rice bran protein contains peptides that exhibit significant potential antioxidant, antidiabetic and antihypertensive effects, providing an excellent opportunity for value-adding to rice. QUICK TAKE l  There is potential to value- add rice bran protein by developing high-valued bioactive ingredients for functional food and nutraceutical supplements. l  Laboratory tests have shown that rice bran proteins possess significant antioxidant activities and have the capacity to block physiologically important enzymes, which could be used to treat conditions such as diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure). l  Developing products based on rice bran protein could add significant value to rice bran and improve the profitability of the rice industry and increase returns to rice growers. RICE BRAN PROTEIN – A “HEALTHY” OPPORTUNITY l The protein in rice bran potentially could be used to develop rice bran-based functional food and nutraceutical products, based on research by Chatchaporn Uraipong (pictured) and colleagues at the University of New South Wales.