Alternate wetting and moderate drying irrigation improves rice cooking and eating quality
Published 02 February, 2026
Alternate wetting and drying irrigation (AWD) significantly influence the cooking and eating quality of rice (Oryza sativa L.); however, the mechanisms by which AWD affects these qualities remain unclear.
To that end, a team of researchers from China investigated the relationship between lipid and free fatty acid biosynthesis in grains and the cooking and eating quality of rice. They reported their results in the Journal of Integrative Agriculture.
“We examined Yangdao 6 (YD6, a conventional taste indica inbred) and Nanjing 9108 (NJ9108, a superior taste japonica inbred) cultivated under conventional irrigation (CI), alternate wetting and moderate drying irrigation (AWMD), and alternate wetting and severe drying irrigation (AWSD) from 10 days after transplanting to maturity,” shares corresponding author Jianchang Yang, a professor at Yangzhou University. “Compared to CI treatment, AWMD significantly enhanced the contents of lipid, total free fatty acids (TFFAs), free unsaturated fatty acids (FUFAs), linoleic acid, and oleic acid in milled rice by increasing activities of enzymes associated with lipid synthesis, while AWSD produced opposite effects.”
Correlation analysis revealed that elevated levels of lipid, TFFAs, FUFAs, linoleic acid, and oleic acid contribute to improved rice cooking and eating quality.
“Our findings demonstrate that AWMD enhances cooking and eating quality of milled rice through optimization of lipid and fatty acid synthesis in rice grains.” adds Yang.
Contact Authors:
Yunji Xu, E-mail: yunjixu@yzu.edu.cn;
Correspondence Jianchang Yang, Tel/Fax: +86-514-87979317, E-mail: jcyang@yzu.edu.cn
Funder:
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BK20241931 and BK 20221371), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071943, 32372214, and 31901444), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFD2300304).
Conflict of Interest:
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
See the Article:
Xu Y J, et al. 2026. Alternate wetting and moderate drying irrigation improves rice cooking and eating quality by optimizing lipid and fatty acid synthesis in grains. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 25(1): 68-80.