613 ISSN: 2348-1900 Plant Science Today http://www.plantsciencetoday.online Review Article SPECIAL ISSUE on Current Trends in Plant Science Research Composition, production, physicochemical properties and applications of lecithin obtained from rice (Oryza sativa L.) - A review Deepali Lehri 1 , Nilima Kumari 1* , Rajinder Pal Singh 2 & Vinay Sharma 3 1 Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan, 304 022, India 2 M/s Rohil Khand Laboratory & Research Centre, B-4 Parsakhera C.B. Ganj, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 243 001, India 3 Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Rajasthan, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 303 002, India Artic le history Received: 28 November 2019 Accepted: 29 December 2019 Published: 31 December 2019 Publisher Horizon e-Publishing Group *Correspondence Nilima Kumari nilima_km@yahoo.com Abstract Rice bran oil is a rich source of lecithin and has many beneficial effects on human health. Apart from phospholipids (1-2%), different nutrients like γ-oryzanol, ferulic acid, phytosterols and vitamin B are also present in rice bran oil. These impart emulsifying property, anti-spattering property etc. and therefore, serve as potential nutritional food and nutraceutical. This review describes the composition, production, physicochemical properties, separation of individual phospholipids from rice bran lecithin and its applications in food industry. It is difficult to handle as compared to soyabean lecithin due to the problem of wax entrapment during the isolation of gums. It is characterised on the basis of physicochemical properties viz. solubility in acetone and hexane, colour, peroxide value, moisture content and acid value. Rice bran lecithin can serve as an excellent substitute to the available lecithins as it is non-GM and its nutritional and fatty acid composition imparts many properties which help it to find applications in the food industry. Future work must focus on proper processing of rice bran oil so that the lecithin obtained during processing is of high quality so that it can pave a way in the food sector. Keywords: rice bran; lecithin; nutraceuticals; emulsifying; physicochemical property; food industry Citation: Lehri D, Kumari N, Rajinder Pal Singh R P, Sharma V. Composition, production, physicochemical properties and applications of lecithin obtained from rice ( Oryza sativa L.)- A review. Plant Science Today 2019;6(sp1):613-622. https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2019.6.sp1.682 Copyright: © Lehri et. al. (2019). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). Indexing: Plant Science Today is covered by Scopus, Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, ESCI, CAS, AGRIS, UGC-CARE, CABI, Google Scholar, etc. Full list at http://www.plantsciencetoday.online Introduction Lecithin was first isolated from the egg yolk by Gobley in 1846 (1). He coined the term “lecithin” in 1850 and from lekithos (Greek word), which means egg yolk (1). Lecithin refers mainly to phosphatidylcholine and is a mixture of various other phosphatides which show colour variation (light to dense reddish brown); the consistency of lecithin varies from fluid to semi solid liquid. Lecithin has been described as “A combination of different phospholipids (PLs) removed from the foods of different origins (animal or vegetable) having at least 60% of acetone-insoluble substances” (2). Phospholipids are the biochemical intermediates involved in functioning and growth Horizon e-Publishing Group ISSN: 2348-1900 Plant Science Today (2019) 6(sp1): 613-622 https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2019.6.sp1.682