Journal Article

Comprehensive quality profiling and multivariate analysis of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars: integrating physical, cooking, nutritional, and micronutrient characteristics for enhanced varietal selection

Abdelsalam, Khaled M. H., El-Banna, Aly A. A., Lamlom, Sobhi F., El-Moneim, Diaa Abd, El-Dalil, Medhat A. E., Shaalan, Ahmed M., AbouEl-Soud, Germine M., Marei, Abdelsalam M., Abdelghany, Ahmed M.

2025

Overview

Background Rice ( Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food for nearly half the global population, with rice grain quality (RGQ) and yield being the most valuable attributes for consumers and food security. RGQ encompasses multiple interconnected features including physical appearance, cooking properties, biochemical composition, nutritional components, and sensory aspects. Methods This study evaluated the agronomic performance of four commercial rice cultivars (Giza 178, Sakha 108, Sakha Super 300, and Egyptian Yasmin) during the 2022 and 2023 growing seasons. The experiment was conducted at the Rice Technology Training Center in Alexandria using a randomized complete block design with three replications. A cultivars were selected based on their commercial significance and diverse genetic backgrounds to represent the primary rice varieties grown in Egypt. Results Analysis of variance revealed significant genotypic effects ( p  < 0.001) for most traits, with notable genotype × environment interactions in milling quality and water uptake characteristics. Multivariate analyses, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), hierarchical clustering, and correlation analysis, provided complementary evidence for cultivar differentiation. PCA demonstrated that 94.2% of total variance was explained by two principal components, with Yasmin distinctly clustering in the positive quadrant of Dim1, showing superior performance in nutritional and cooking parameters (protein: 8.51%, fiber: 0.33%, water uptake: 439.45%, elongation: 60.73%). Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed two distinct trait groupings: physical-processing parameters and nutritional-functional attributes. Cultivar Super 300 demonstrated superior performance in physical-processing metrics (milling yield: 71.69%, grain hardness: 6.56), while Yasmin exhibited exceptional nutritional-functional characteristics. Furthermore, correlation analysis revealed significant relationships among quality parameters ( p  < 0.001), particularly between physical characteristics and milling traits ( r = 0.99), and among nutritional components ( r = 0.87–0.99). Conclusion The integrated multivariate approach identified Yasmin as the superior cultivar for nutritional and cooking qualities, while Super 300 excelled in physical parameters, providing comprehensive insights for developing cultivars with optimized quality profiles tailored to specific market demands and consumer preferences.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Agricultural research / Agriculture / agronomic traits / Biochemical composition / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Botanical research / chemical composition / Cluster analysis / Clustering / Consumers / Cookery / Cooking / Cooking properties / Correlation analysis / Cultivars / Dietary minerals / Edible Grain / Egypt / Fatty acids / Food security / Genetic diversity / Genetic engineering / Genotype / Genotype-environment interactions / Genotypes / Grain / Grain characteristics / grain quality / Growing season / hardness / Life Sciences / markets / Micronutrients - analysis / Multivariate Analysis / Nervous system / Nutritional aspects / Nutritional profiling / Nutritive Value / Oryza - chemistry / Oryza - genetics / Oryza sativa / Performance evaluation / Personal appearance / Physical characteristics / Physical properties / Physiological aspects / Plant Breeding / Plant Sciences / Potassium / Principal Component Analysis / Principal components analysis / Process parameters / Proteins / Quality management / Rice / Rice quality traits / staple foods / Temperature / Tree Biology / variance / Variance analysis / Varietal selection / Water uptake