Cereal Chem 38:423 - 431.  |  VIEW ARTICLE

Gas Plasma Irradiation of Rice. I. Hydration Characteristics.

A. S. Roseman, J. T. Hogan, R. B. Stone, and J. C. Webb. Copyright 1961 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Milled, whole-grain rice, that was subjected to a gas-plasma irradiation, established by a 60-cycle power source, at a pressure that was low enough to permit the generation of a (glow) discharge across electrodes, showed a marked increase in the amount of water that could be absorbed. A study of the effect of the major operating variables revealed: 1) with the time and pressure constant at 5 minutes and 2 mm. of mercury respectively, maximum changes in hydration characteristics occurred at about 175 ma. for Zenith variety and 150 ma. for Bluebonnet 50 rice; 2) within the pressure range of 2 mm. to 8 mm. of mercury with a current of 25 ma. to 75 ma. for 5 minutes, pressure during treatment had no great effect upon changing the water absorptive capacity; 3) at 50 ma. and 2 mm. of mercury pressure, any increase in treatment time over 45 minutes for Bluebonnet variety and 70 minutes for Zenith was inefficient in increasing the amount of water absorption. The difference between the water-holding capacity of irradiated and nonirradiated vacuum-treated controls may possibly be explained by the wide divergence between the temperatures attained during their preparation.