AbstractRice bran is a by-product commonly used for animal feeding. However, its nutritional value and potential application in human diet have attracted market interest. Its preservation for safe use is still a challenge so the objective of the present study was to study the effect of stabilization methods on physico-chemical and microbial characteristics of rice bran. The rice bran samples were adjusted at three different moisture levels viz., 18, 21 and 24 per cent and treated at three different exposure times viz., 160, 200 and 240 seconds using radiofrequency and microwave heating, respectively. During the study it was further observed that rice bran in treatment T4 (Moisture content:18%::Time duration:240 seconds) stabilized using microwave and radiofrequency was found to have maximum mean crude protein (17.41 and 18.29 %), crude fat (19.32 and 20.21 %), whereas, the minimum mean crude protein (13.62%), crude fat (14.53%) were found in T 1 (control). Rice bran treated with radiofrequency heating had lower microbial load than microwave treated samples. During the storage period of 180 days the overall mean moisture content of rice bran increased from 7.76 to 10.12 per cent whereas, the crude protein, crude fat, ash and crude fibre content decreased from 16.52 to 14.80 per cent, 18.33 to 16.61 per cent, 7.63 to 7.42 per cent and 8.78 to 7.35 per cent, respectively. Based on overall nutritional characteristics and stability, radiofrequency heating was found more effective than microwave stabilization.
Nazir et al. (Wed,) studied this question.