Oats

Oats, common name for the seeds or grains of a genus of plants, and for the plants themselves. The genus contains about 25 species that grow widely in the cooler temperate regions of the world. Several are cultivated for their grain, which is used as feed for cattle and horses and also for human consumption as a cereal. The green plants are often used for hay, silage, and pasture, and the dried straw is a popular bedding for livestock. Oats are important rotation crops on livestock and grain farms in the northern United States, Canada, and northern and eastern Europe.

Oats are normally sown in early spring and harvested in mid to late summer. In the southern United States and in the southern regions of Europe, oats may be sown in the fall. The most widely planted species is the common oat. The wild oat is a common and often costly weed that grows in North America, Europe, and Asia. Cultivated oats were probably derived from the wild oat by farmers in the Middle East and Europe about 4500 years ago.

Oat grains, as harvested, consist of highly digestible groat (seed) held within an indigestible hull. Compared with other grains, whole (unhulled) oats produce feeds that are high in protein (12 percent), fat (5 percent), and fiber (12 to 14 percent) and low in carbohydrates (about 64 percent). Oat varieties are being developed with improved yields, higher protein and energy content, and stronger resistance to rust, to virus diseases, and to attacks by insects.

As cereals and porridges, which are derived from roasted grains, oats are high in protein and are particularly good sources of thiamine, or vitamin B₁ (see Vitamin). In recent years the use of oats has been extended to ready-to-eat breakfast cereals and a wide variety of processed foods. Oat flour contains antioxidants that retard rancidity in fat-containing foods; it is an ingredient of such products as peanut butter, margarine, chocolate, and doughnut flours and is a preservative inner coating for the paper bags used to package salted nuts, coffee, and potato chips. Oat flour also serves as a fat stabilizer in ice cream and other dairy products. The most important industrial product from oats is furfural, a chemical derived from oat hulls and used as a solvent in various refining industries.

In the mid-1980s, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States, Canada, and Poland were, respectively, the world's largest producers of oats. World production was about 48 million metric tons annually; 16 percent of this total was produced in the United States. See also Crop Farming.

Scientific classification: Oats belong to the genus Avena of the family Poaceae (formerly Gramineae). The common oat is classified as Avena sativa and the wild oat as Avena fatua.