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Amino Acid Content in Wild Rice (Zizania Aquatica L.) Grain¹

Wild rice (Zizania aquatica L.), until recently only harvested from natural stands, is now being cultivated in the upper-midwestern U.S. and southern Canada. Thus, it is becoming a more common food. The objective was to determine the amino acid composition of the protein in wild rice grain.

The content of 17 amino acids and protein percentage of five grain samples of wild rice grown in Minnesota were determined and compared to hard red spring wheat (Friticum aestivum L. em. Thell.) and spring oat groats (Avena sativa L.).

The wild rice grain tested had nearly twice the percentage. of the amino acids alanine, arginine, aspartic, lysine, and methionine than wheat grain. Wheat grain had about twice the percentage of cystine, glutamic acid, and proline amino acids as wild rice grain. The nine essential amino acids tested comprised 32.1 and 45.1% of the total amino acids in wheat and wild rice grain, respectively. The protein percentage was 17.1 for wheat grain and 14.2 for wild rice grain.

Generally the percentages of amino acids tested were similar for wild rice grain and oat groats except for slightly higher percentages of alanine, arginine, aspartic, and methionine in wild rice grain. Oat grain had higher percentages of cystine and glutamic acid than wild rice grain. The nine essential amino acids tested comprised 42.0 aml 45.1% of the total amino acids in oat groats and wild rice grain, respectively. The protein percentage in eat groats was 16.5% compared to 14.2% in wild rice grain.

Key Words: Protein percentage • Amino acid composition of wheat grain and oat groats • Avena sativa L. • Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell.

² Associate professor.

Received for publication June 14, 1975.