Enhanced protein quality and antioxidant activity of fermented Brown rice with Gryllus bimaculatus

We fermented samples of only brown rice and samples of brown rice added with the cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus) with probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Leuconostoc mesenteroides MKSR, Lb. plantarum MKHA11, or Bacillus amyloliquefaciens MKSK J1, and evaluated their protein quality and antioxidant activity. When the cricket was added to brown rice, the protein and the total amino acid content, and the antioxidant activity increased significantly. In all samples, the degree of hydrolysis significantly increased with the fermentation time, and in vitro protein digestibility increased by 10%–20% after fermentation. The brown rice with cricket fermented with B. amyloliquefaciens MKSK J1 exhibited the highest amino acid quality based on the essential amino acid index and branched-chain amino acids content. In conclusion, fermented cricket-brown rice could be used as a protein-enriched food with high-quality protein and antioxidant activity.