Analysis of Variations in the Amylose Content of Grains Located at Different Positions in the Rice Panicle and the Effect of Milling

The results of the presented study indicated that the amylose content (AC) of individual rice kernels varied among grains in the same panicle and even in outer and inner layers of the same grain. The differences among the grains in panicles were 19.1% in the Indica variety “Zhenong 5” and 22.8% in the Japonica variety “Zhehu 9827”. The amylose content of the grains in the upper position or the first branches of panicles and of the early flowering grains or heavier grains was higher than that of others. Amylose content increases by 1.36% in Japonica rice variety “Zhehu 9827” and 1.92% in Indica rice variety “Zhenong 5”, when the degree of milling increases by 10%. The tendency of changes in AC was the same for grains of the Japonica and the Indica rice variety. Furthermore, for analyzing AC the grains in a panicle should carefully be selected. Errors coming from sampling could be decreased by using a multiplicity of grains rather than single‐grain samples.