With the ever-increasing global demand for high quality rice in both local production regions and with Western consumers, we have a strong desire to understand better the importance of the different traits that make up the quality of the rice grain and obtain a full picture of rice quality demographics. Rice is by no means a ‘one size fits all’ crop. Regional preferences are not only striking, they drive the market and hence are of major economic importance in any rice breeding / improvement strategy. In this analysis, we have engaged local experts across the world to perform a full assessment of all the major rice quality trait characteristics and importantly, to determine how these are combined in the most preferred varieties for each of their regions. Physical as well as biochemical characteristics have been monitored and this has resulted in the identification of no less than 18 quality trait combinations. This complexity immediately reveals the extent of the specificity of consumer preference. Nevertheless, further assessment of these combinations at the variety level reveals that several groups still comprise varieties which consumers can readily identify as being different. This emphasises the shortcomings in the current tools we have available to assess rice quality and raises the issue of how we might correct for this in the future. Only with additional tools and research will we be able to define directed strategies for rice breeding which are able to combine important agronomic features with the demands of local consumers for specific quality attributes and hence, design new, improved crop varieties which will be awarded success in the global market.

It is internationally accepted that malnutrition and chronic diseases in developing countries are key limitations to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In many developing countries, rice is the primary source of nutrition. In those countries, the major forms of malnutrition are Fe-induced anaemia, Zn deficiency and Vitamin A deficiency, whereas the major chronic disease challenges are Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. There is a growing corpus of evidence regarding both limitations and opportunities as to how rice could be an effective vehicle by which to tackle key nutrition and health related problems in countries with limited resources. Rice breeding programs are able to focus on developing new varieties carrying enhanced amounts of either Fe, Zn or beta-carotene because of large public investment, and the intuitive link between providing a mineral/vitamin to cure a deficiency in that mineral/vitamin. By contrast, there has been little investment in progressing the development of particular varieties for potential impact on chronic diseases. In this review article we focus on the broad battery of evidence linking rice-related nutritional limitations to their impact on a variety of human health issues. We discuss how rice might offer sometimes even simple solutions to rectifying key problems through targeted biofortification strategies and finally, we draw attention to how recent technological (−omics) developments may facilitate untold new opportunities for more rapidly generating improved rice varieties specifically designed to meet the current and future nutritional needs of a rapidly expanding global population.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1939-8433-5-16) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Problem statement: There are numerous claims on varieties of Bario rice cultivars in Sarawak. Many of them might be synonyms or homonyms. This preliminary study was to differentiate Bario Rice cultivars using microsatellite molecular markers. Approach: Microsatellite marker panels distributed on all 12 chromosomes on rice genome were employed to study 8 Bario rice cultivars in Sarawak. Results: Current study indicated that the microsatellite panel were able to differentiate the 8 Bario rice cultivars. A total of 31 alleles were generated at 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci among the cultivars using the selected polymorphic SSR primer pairs with an average of 2.6 alleles per locus. Average PIC value obtained was 0.5204. An UPGMA dendrogram based on SSR polymorphism indicated high variation among the rice varieties with the coefficient ranging from 0.16 and 0.92. Genetic diversity determination using cluster analysis showed differentiation of rice cultivars into 2 major groups and several sub-groups. Conclusion: The SSR markers were useful for differentiating the genotypes and assessment of genetic relationships due to its reproducibility and to multiallelic, codominant and informative properties.

Whole grains consumption promotes health benefits, but demonstrates controversial impacts from phytic acid in meeting requirements of good health. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine the nutrient bioaccessibility and antioxidant properties of rice cultivars named "Adan" or "Bario" and deduce the nutritional impact of phytic acid. Majority of the dehusked rice in the collection showed an acceptable level of in-vitro starch digestibility and in-vitro protein digestibility, but were poor in antioxidant properties and bioaccessibility of minerals (Ca, Fe and Zn). The drawbacks identified in the rice cultivars were due to relatively high phytic acid content (2420.6 ± 94.6 mg/100 g) and low phenolic content (152.39 ± 18.84 μg GAE/g). The relationship between phytic acid content and mineral bioaccessibility was strongest in calcium (r = 0.60), followed by iron (r = 0.40) and zinc (r = 0.27). Phytic acid content did not significantly correlate with in-vitro starch digestibility and in-vitro protein digestibility but showed a weak relationship with antioxidant properties. These suggest that phytic acid could significantly impair the mineral bioaccessibility of dehusked rice, and also act as an important antioxidant in non-pigmented rice. Bario rice cultivars offered dehusked rice with wide range of in-vitro digestibility of starch and protein, and also pigmented rice as a good source of antioxidants. However, there is a need to reduce phytic acid content in dehusked rice for improved mineral bioaccessibility among Bario rice cultivars.