Oat

Oat plants belong to the genus Avena in the grass family Poaceae. Oats, the seeds of the species, varieties, and cultivars of Avena, are used as food for people and livestock. Common oats belong to to the species Avena sativa L.

Oat crops

Oat grains

Quotes

• Oats are grown in the temperate regions worldwide and based on production, oats are the seventh most important cereal crop. Oat grains are distinct from other cereals due to their high content of soluble dietary fiber, specifically β-glucan and lipids. Oats also contain specific bioactive compounds called avenanthramides. Oats are used primarily for animal feed, but food use of oats has been increasing as a part of the shift to plant-based diets and protein sources. Milling processes for producing oat groats, flakes, and flour include kilning for inactivation of lipid-degrading enzymes. Oats are used typically in flakes, cereals, and bakery products, but emerging areas are dairy and meat substitutes. Oats are an interesting raw material for various plant-based foods due to their relatively good amino acid composition, gluten-free status, and health claims of oat β-glucan as well as mild flavor and light color.
  • Ulla Holopainen-Mantila, Kaisa M. Linderborg, Vieno Piironen, and Tuula Sontag-Strohm, and Emilia Nordlund, "Chapter 18 - Oats". ICC Handbook of 21st Century Cereal Science and Technology. 2023. pp. 173–180. doi:10.1016/B978-0-323-95295-8.00018-6. 

• The country of origin of oats is more difficult to localise than that of either wheat or barley. There is considerable evidence that wild forms of the genus were prevalent in South and South-East Europe and along the littoral of North Africa from early times. The plant in those regions and periods, however, was cultivated almost exclusively for use as fodder, and it may be for this reason that representations of the grain, so frequently found on coins of the period in the case of wheat and barley, are so rare or entirely absent in the case of oats.
  A. de Candolle ... states that the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews did not cultivate oats and that there is no Sanskrit name or any name in modern Indian languages for the genus.
  • Herbert Hunter, Oats: Their Varieties and Characteristics; a Practical Handbook for Farmers, Seedmen, and Students. Volume 2 of Practical Farming Series. London: Ernest Benn, Ltd. 1924. p. 12.  (with an introduction by R. H. Biffen)

• Oat is among the most versatile cereal grain in the family Poaceae, though it is used primarily for livestock feed and human consumption. Several oat species, such as Avena sativa (common oats), Avena byzantina (Algerian or red oat), Avena nuda (naked oats), and Avena sterilis (sterile or animated oat), are produced commercially and together account for oats being the seventh most grown cereal globally. Viral genera across the families Tymoviridae, Potyviridae, Virgaviridae, and Reoviridae often cause diseases in oat species, thus causing moderate to severe yield losses annually. In this chapter, we explore the transmission mechanisms of the most important viruses that pose threats to production of oats. Current methods for identifying viruses include purification by nucleic acid assays, symptomatology, and electron microscopy–based, physical examination and serology. Early diagnosis of viral agents causing diseases plays an important role in the management of plant diseases.
  • Tara-Kay L. Jones, Julio S. Bernal, Raul F. Medina, Megha Khanna, Pooja Kumari, Tejaswini Sharma, and Nandlal Choudhary, "Chapter 7 - Oats". Viral Diseases of Field and Horticultural Crops. 2024. pp. 63–70. doi:10.1016/B978-0-323-90899-3.00011-2. 

• Often called "oatmeal," rolled oats are readily available in our supermarkets and have been for some time. To roll oats, the mass manufacturers first hull the groats, steam them, and then pass them through rollers, therefore transforming them into flakes. In fact, "oat flakes" would be a much better popular name than "oatmeal." The thickness of the flakes varies, with the thickest being called "old-fashioned oats." (Actually, some of the rolled oats sold in health-food stores, billed as table-cut oats, may be a little thicker than regular supermarket old-fashioned.) The thicker rolled oats take the longest to cook. Thinner oats are usually billed as "quick" or "instant," ...
  • A. D. Livingston, Whole Grain Cookbook: Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rye, Amaranth, Spelt, Corn, Millet, Quinoa, and More. Globe Pequot Press. 2013. p. 148. ISBN 1493001825.  (1st edition, 2000)

• Oats constitute one of the most important field crops of New York State. According to the statistics for different crops in 1912, taken from the Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture, the oat crop was third in farm value in New York State. Hay ranked first ... potatoes seconds ... and oats third ... — New York ranking eleventh in oat production in the United States. ...
  Oats are valuable to farmers because they fit in well with the many systems of crop rotation used in this State. Oats are also much used as a nurse crop when land is to seeded to grass; the value of such a crop is doubtful, however, for many nurse crops are robber crops.
  • Harry Houser Love, (April 1914)"Oats for New York". Bulletins of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the College of Agriculture, Department of Plant-breeders, Cornell University Bulletin 343: 361–416. (quote from p. 363)

• Northern countries like Finland, Canada, and Scotland have a long tradition of using oats in a variety of foods. Even in these countries, however, the consumption of oats is low in comparison with that of other cereals. Processing of oats is required to provide edible products that are stable in storage and have good sensory properties. "Grandmothers's" cookbooks contain a variety of oat recipes that form the traditional foods that are the basis of current food uses, namely, porridge, bread, fermented oat custard, and flour made of boiled, lightly smoked oats. Traditionally, oats are used as whole grains. The development of new ingredients, such as various milling fractions (i.e., bran, flour, and hulls) and enriched fraction (i.e., starch, protein, and β-glucan), started in the 1980s in responed to accumulating evidence of the health benefits of oat dietary fiber.
  • Marjatta Salmenkallio-Marttila, Raija-Liisa Heiniö, Anu Kaukovirta-Norja, and Kaisa Poutanen, "Chapter 16. Flavor and texture in processing of new oat foods". Oats: Chemistry and Technology (2nd ed.). American Association of Cereal Chemists International Press. 2011. pp. 333–346. ISBN 978-1-891127-64-9.  (quote from p. 333; edited by Francis H. Webster & Peter J. Woods)

• During the 20th century, the economic position of oats (Avena sativa L.) decreased strongly in favour of higher yielding crops including winter wheat and maize. Presently, oat represents only ~ 1.3% of the total world grain production, and its production system is fragmented. Nonetheless, current interest is growing because of recent knowledge on its potential benefits in food, feed and agriculture. ...
  Five approved European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claims apply to oats. Four relate to the oat-specific soluble fibres, the beta-glucans, and concern the maintenance and reduction of blood cholesterol, better blood glucose balance and increased faecal bulk. The fifth claim concerns the high content of unsaturated fatty acids, especially present in the endosperm, which reduces the risks of heart and vascular diseases. Furthermore, oat starch has a low glycemic index, which is favourable for weight control. Oat-specific polyphenols and avenanthramides have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Thus, oats can contribute significantly to the presently recommended whole-grain diet.
  • Marinus J.M. Smulders, Clemens C.M. van de Wiel, Hetty C. van den Broek, Ingrid M. van der Meer, T.P.M. Israel-Hoevelaken, Ruud D. Timmer, Bert-Jan van Dinter, Susanne Braun, and Luud J.W.J. Gilissen, (August 2018)"". Food Research International 110: 3–10. DOI:10.1016/j.foodres.2017.11.031.

• Practically four-fifths of the oat crop of the United States is produced in the thirteen States extending from New York and Pennsylvania westward to North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. Each of these States annually devotes more than a million acres to oats. The average yield in the six northernmost States, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, is 31.68 bushels to the acre, while their total production is slightly less than one-third of the oat crop of this country. The average yield of the other seven States, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas, is only 29.23 bushels to the acre, yet they produce more than half of the entire crop. ...
  Oats are grown in the corn belt, which includes all the States of the second group, largely because a small-grain crop is needed in the rotation and because the grain is desired for feeding to work stock. Spring wheat is seldom satisfactory in this district, and winter crops often do not fit well into a rotation which ordinarily includes corn, a small grain, and grass. Under these conditions oats are generally grown as the best crop between corn and grass. This is particularly true in Illinois and Iowa, the two States producing the greatest quantifies of both corn and oats.
  • Clyde William Warburton, Sixty-day and Kherson Oats. Farmers' Bulletin 395, United States Department of Agriculture. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. May 1910.  (Clyde Willam Warburton was the president of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) in 1925.)

• Oats is one of the most important grain crops in the North Temperate Zone. In the United States this crop is exceeded in area and value only by corn and wheat, while in Canada it is even more generally grown than in the United States. In Great Britain and Ireland the acreage devoted to oats is little less than that devoted to all other grain crops. In Germany it exceeds the combined acreage of wheat and barley and is second only to rye. In all the countries of northern Europe the oat crop occupies an important place. ...
  ... Like several of our cultivated plants, this grain was carried westward from its place of origin in western Asia and eastern Europe by the migrations of the inhabitants of that region early in the Christian era. It is probable that oats were first used for feeding animals and that their use as human food was confined to times when other grain or food was scarce. Its general use as food for man is evidently of recent origin and is due to the development of milling machinery.
  • Clyde William Warburton, Oats: Growing the Crop. Farmers' Bulletin 424, United States Department of Agriculture. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. December 1910. 

See also

• Oatmeal

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Oat on Wikipedia