Enzymatic hydrolysis of rice dreg protein: Effects of enzyme type on the functional properties and antioxidant activities of recovered proteins

The effects of various proteases on the formation and characteristics of rice dreg protein hydrolysates (RDPHs) were investigated. Enzymatic hydrolysis of often under-utilised rice dreg protein (RDP) with different enzymes studied here was found to significantly improve protein content and solubility. RDPHs prepared by alkaline protease showed better protein recovery, producing higher protein content with much smaller peptides, while hydrolysates generated by Protamex showed the highest antioxidant activities with more than 80% solubility over a wide pH range. The results indicated that the type of protease greatly influenced the molecular weight and amino acid residue composition of RDPH. The enzyme type also determined the functional properties and antioxidant activity of the recovered proteins. It was found that an optimum allocation of alkaline protease in addition to the Neutrase enzyme could be an appropriate strategy to produce RDPH with desirable functionalities, antioxidant properties, and low salt content.