Suitability of adlai in complementing rice as staple food

Other energy-dense local food crops, such as corn, cassava, sweet potato, and adlai have recently been promoted as alternatives to rice as a measure to help control the increasing per capita intake of rice. Of these alternatives, adlai or katigbi (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) is the least known. Nutritional value of adlai was reported to be comparable, or even better, than rice. In this study, three varieties of adlai, namely ginampay, gulian, and tapol, were evaluated and substituted to NSIC Rc160, a popular rice variety, at different ratios (100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100 rice:adlai). All adlai varieties were classified as very low amylose types (5.08-7.89%), but with high intermediate-intermediate gelatinization temperature, affecting cooking time and tenderness of cooked sample. Increasing the proportion of adlai, regardless of variety, significantly prolonged the cooking time by 1.69 to 6.73 minutes. Laboratory sensory evaluation showed that pure ginampay and all its blend forms had comparable overall likings with that of NSIC Rc160. Gulian and tapol gave comparable overall likings with rice at 25:75 and 50:50 ratios, respectively. In terms of consumer acceptability, 50:50 rice:ginampay blend was preferred over the other two blends. It received the same percentage acceptability and rank scores as the pure rice. The blends were preferred in the following order: pure rice greater than or equal to rice:ginampay greather than or equal to rice:gulian greater than or equal to rice:tapol. In terms of proximate composition, blending rice with adlai, regardless of variety used, resulted in a significant increase in protein (11.19-11.52%) and fat (1.02-1.22%) content of the blends. Meanwhile, blending rice with adlai had no significant effect on the ash and dietary fiber contents of the blends. This study showed that ginampay can be substituted for rice at 50:50 ratio as source of carbohydrates, providing the consumer the same eating satisfaction and higher amount of protein and fats.