Cup arrangement ranking method (CARM) is a method for a rapid and small-sample sensory evaluation of cooked rice in rice breeding program. This study was compared to four different scale ranges (1~11, 1~9, 1~7 and 1~5) for improving the efficiency of CARM using sixteen Japonica and four Tongil-type cultivars. The wide scale ranges were higher of that than narrow scale range on determination coefficient between standard sensory evaluation method (SSEM) and CARM. However, the wide scale ranges were required more time and efforts than those of the narrow scale ranges for eating sensory evaluation of cooked rice. The wide scale ranges of 1~11 and 1~9 were difficult to distinguish the differences between the cultivars in the scale 3 and 4. On the other hand, the narrow scale ranges of 1~7 and 1~5 could distinguish the difference between cultivars in all scales. We suggest that two scale ranges for CARM were 1~7 (7 classes) in including Tongil type cultivars and 1~5 (5 classes) in Japonica cultivars.

Rice breeders or sensory evaluators are striving to develop the rapid and correct sensory evaluation method of the cooked rice with a small-sample. This study was conducted to develop a method of cooking condition and sensory evaluation of the cooked rice rapidly and correctly with a small-sample by introducing a concept of arrangement ranking to the conventional sensory evaluation method by cooking in the cup, which has been used only as a simple test. A method of simultaneous cooking of the five samples for one round of test was developed. And, an arrangement ranking method was developed just like stacking a tower by arranging the cups in the sensory evaluation. The proposed method was named as cup arrangement ranking method. The correlation analysis between the cup arrangement ranking method (CARM) and the standard sensory evaluation method (SSEM) showed a high significance of correlation (r=0.83**∼0.91**, ‘13∼’14). Further, when effectiveness of proposed method was compared with the standard sensory evaluation method, the sample quantity was a 30g level for one round of test, which is a tenth of SSEM. The time consumed for sensory evaluation was two minutes per one sample, which was a reduced value by half as compared with the time consumption by SSEM. Therefore, the cup arrangement ranking is expected to be an effective method in the selection of excellent rice line or variety having good taste by evaluating the cooking quality rapidly with a small-sample in early generation.