This study investigated the changes in the nutraceutical lipid components of brown rice oil after germination. Four different high-yielding cultivars (Dasan1, Segyejinmi, Hanareum1 and Hanareum2) of Korean brown rice were selected and brown rice oil was extracted from each cultivar before and after germination. Free fatty acid, squalene, policosanols, and isomers of phytosterol were analyzed using GC, and isomers of tocols (tocopherol and tocotrienol) and γ-oryzanol were quantified using HPLC from both brown rice oil (BRO) and germinated brown rice oil (GBRO). The contents of phytosterol isomers, campesterol, stigmasterol, and β-sitosterol were increased by 8.3%, 31.6%, 3.3% in GBRO, respectively. Furthermore, the squalene content showed the highest increase of up to 2.4 fold in GBRO compared to BRO. In addition, linoleic and linolenic acid composition increased whereas oleic and palmitic acid decreased in the GRBO. However, the contents of tocols (tocopherol and tocotrienol) in GBRO were lower than those in BRO, and there was no significant difference in policosanol and γ-oryzanol between GBRO and BRO. These results suggest that GBRO has the potential as a healthy and functional source due to its lipid profile on improved lipid metabolism.

In Africa, rice is the fastest demanding staple food with a high growth rate of consumption at 4.5% per annum. Currently Africa occupies 32% of world rice imports, and pressure on rice is expected to rise in the near future. Faced with this deficit, Korea has launched the rice breeding project through Korea-Africa Food & Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI) of which goal is to increase rice productivity through accelerated development of improved germplasm and varieties in Africa. As of 2013, the ten African member countries joined the rice breeding projects of KAFACI program; they are Cameroon, DR Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. We adopted the breeding strategy of intervarietal cross and anther culture to speed up high-yielding secondary populations using the Korean and African germplasm. Korean germplasm is composed of 1) temperate japonicas adaptable to tropical conditions of short-day length and high temperature 2) wide-cross derivatives from African wild species, O.glaberrima and O,longistaminata, and 3) tongil-type varieties. These germplasm is evaluated for adaptability in Africa and African partners make crosses with local germplasm with the best selections. Korea produce double-haploid populations from these crosses for another cycle of selection for high-yielding lines in Africa. Inter-varietal crosses and double-haploid technology could accelerate the development of high-yielding germplasm and new rice varieties in Africa within short project period.