Physicochemical and Antioxidant Properties of Three Varieties of Indonesian Black Rice

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a main food which is consumed by the citizens of the world, especially Asia. Along with the development of science and technology, the function of rice is not only as a staple food but it also has a health function because it has a high content of minerals, phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. Based on the color, the rice is divided into several categories such as red, green, black, and white showing the anthocyanin composition contained therein. The purpose of this study was to determine physicochemical and antioxidant properties of three varieties of Indonesian black rice. Rice used in this study includes Melik Java, Cempo Ireng, and Toraja variety. The parameters observed were chemical characteristic, color intensity, total anthocyanin content, total phenolic content,antioxidant activity with DPPH radical scavenging ability and FRAP method.. The data analysis in this study was statistically tested using analysis of variance ANOVA using SPSS. The result showed that amylose content in the three black rice shows different amounts, the highest being Cempo Ireng (44.18%), followed by Melik (30.35%) and Toraja (24.55%). Toraja black rice has a color that was significantly darker than Melik Java and Cempo Ireng. Toraja was a black rice variety that contains the highest total anthocyanins (135.07 mg/100g) andtotal phenolic (2.11 mgGAE/g) compared to Melik Java and Cempo Ireng. Antioxidant activity of Toraja and Melik Java black rice was significantly higher than Cempo Ireng black rice.