The present work was designed to obtain information on the effect of germination time on the selected
physicochemical properties of brown rice flour and starch prepared from three different rice cultivars.
Changes in total starch, amylose and amylopectin contents of flour, amylopectin/amylose ratio and
molecular weight of starch, gelatinization, pasting, rheological, and morphological properties of flour and
starch during 5 days of germination were investigated. Significant changes of pasting and rheological
properties of brown rice flour were found during germination, but only small changes of these properties
could be found in isolated starch. Scanning electron micrographs of flour showed that the continuous
matrix structure of flour was highly destroyed after germination and scanning electron micrographs of
isolated starch showed that after three days of germination, pits and holes were discovered on the
surface of some starch granules. Germination had little effect on the average molecular weight of starch,
but the polydispersity value in germinated brown rice (2e5 days germination) was higher than that in
non-germinated brown rice. The changes observed in physicochemical properties of brown rice flour and
starch after germination provided a crucial basis for understanding flour and starch modification
mechanisms with potential applications for an industrial scale.