Mineral distribution in rice: Measurement by Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (MP-AES)

Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (MP-AES) is a new technology with comparable performance and sensitivity to Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Both instrument use plasma as the energy source that produces atomic and ionic emission lines. However, MP-AES uses nitrogen as the plasma gas instead of argon which is an additional expense for ICP-OES. Thus, MP-AES is more economical. This study quantified six essential minerals (Se, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn and K) in rice using MP-AES. Hot plate digestion was used for sample extraction and the detection limit for each instrument was compared with respect to the requirement for routine analysis in rice. Black, red and non-pigmented rice samples were polished in various intervals to determine the concentration loss of minerals. The polishing time corresponds to the structure of the rice grains such as outer bran layer (0 to 15), inner bran layer (15 to 30), outer endosperm layer (30 to 45), and middle endosperm layer (45 to 60). Results of MP-AES analysis showed that black rice had all essential materials (except K) in high concentration at the outer bran layer. The red and non-pigmented rice samples on the other hand, contained high levels of Se, Zn, Fe, and Mn in the whole bran portion. After 25 seconds, the mineral concentrations remained constant. The concentration of Cu however, gave consistent value in all polishing intervals, hence Cu might be located in the inner endosperm layer. Results also showed that K was uniformly distributed in all samples where 5% loss was consistently observed for every polishing interval. Therefore, the concentration of K was also affected by polishing time. Thus, the new MP-AES technology with comparable performance to ICP-OES is a promising tool for routine analysis in rice. (author)