oats

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Mature oats (Avena sativa). (credit: Grant Heilman Photography)

Hardy cereal plant (Avena sativa), cultivated in temperate regions, that is able to live in poor soil. The edible starchy grain is used primarily as livestock feed, but is also processed into rolled oats and oat flour for human consumption. High in carbohydrates, oats also provide protein, fat, calcium, iron, and B vitamins. Oat straw is used for animal feed and bedding.

For more information on oats, visit Britannica.com.

An agricultural crop grown for its grain and straw in most countries of the temperate zones of the world. In the major oat-growing states of the midwestern United States (Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) the crop is raised for grain, whereas in the Southern states (Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia) it is used for pasture or a combination of pasture and grain. About 90% of the annual oat grain production is used for animal feeds, and about 10% is processed into food for humans, for example, oatmeal and other cereal products. In general, oats are a cool-season crop which requires a moist climate. They grow well on both light and heavy soils if sufficient moisture and fertility nutrients are available. See also Cereal.

The fifteen species of oats in the genus Avena are divided into three groups on the basis of chromosome number: 14, 28, or 42. Within the 42-chromosome cultivated species there is wide variation among varieties for all plant traits. Oats belong to the Graminae (grass) family; thus the oat plant forms a crown at the soil surface from which a fibrous root system penetrates the soil. Culms usually grow 2–5 ft (0.6–1.5 m) tall, and they are terminated with inflorescences called panicles. Each panicle usually bears 10–75 spikelets on its numerous branches. A spikelet is enclosed by two papery glumes and bears two or three florets, each with an ovary, two stigmas, and three anthers enclosed in a lemma and palea (see illustration). In most varieties the lemma and palea adhere to the oat seed after threshing. A trait used to determine market grade of oats is the color of the lemma, which may be white, yellow, gray, brown, red, or black. The major trait that distinguishes wild from cultivated oats is seed shattering. In cultivated species the seed attachment is persistent, and it can be separated from the panicle only by threshing. See also Cyperales; Flower; Grass crops; Inflorescence.

An oat flower; two oat grains are shown at the lower right.

The world collection of oats, maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, contains more than 14,000 lines of 42-chromosome types. These represent lines from wild species and from varieties produced at breeding stations. The collection represents a vast range of genetic types that can be used for varietal improvement.

The milling of oats is less complex than wheat milling and has many similarities to rice or barley milling operations because there is limited fractionation of the kernel. The oat grain is covered with a coarse, adhering hull which must be removed prior to production of ingredients or consumer foods. Oats as received at the mill house are termed green oats and must be cleaned to remove foreign seeds and trash. Clean, sound oats are heated slowly prior to hull removal. The green oats have active lipolytic enzymes (lipases) which will catalyze hydrolysis of triglycerides and yield free fatty acids. The heating, drying, or roasting procedures inactivate lipases, facilitate hull removal, and impart a distinctive roasted flavor to the oat product. Roasted oats are air-cooled and size-graded prior to dehulling. The products of the dehuller are primarily the whole kernel or groat and the fiber hull which are readily separated by air aspiration. The low-density oat hulls possess particularly high levels of fiber and pentosans which are suitable feedstock for industrial production of furfural (an important chemical nylon manufacturing) through high-temperature acid hydrolysis and dehydration. Whole, cleaned oat groats are not frequently available in the commercial food market. Selected large-sized groats are excellent for puffing into ready-to-eat cereals.

Oat cutting and flaking procedures provide more extensive utilization of groats in the form of rolled oats. Oat flour is obtained from further reduction and sieving or hammer milling of the whole groat or flaked product. This high-protein flour is frequently used in the formulations of ready-to-eat cereals and many prepared baby foods. Composite flours blended from oat flour and other cereals providing high protein content and extended shelf life have been proposed as suitable for world feeding programs. See also Food manufacturing.

Grain from Avena spp., the three best-known being A. sativa, A. steritis, and A. strigosa. A 100-g portion (raw) is a rich source of vitamin B₁; a good source of protein, iron, and zinc; a source of niacin; contains 9 g of fat of which 20% is saturated and 40% polyunsaturated, and 7 g of dietary fibre; supplies 375 kcal (1580 kJ).

Oatmeal is ground oats; oatflour is ground oats with the bran removed; groats are husked oats; Embden groats are crushed groats; Scotch oats are groats cut into granules of various sizes; Sussex ground oats are very finely ground oats; rolled oats are crushed by rollers and partially precooked.

According to a definition in Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary of the English Language, oats were "a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but which in Scotland supports the people." Since oats are by far the most nutritious of the cereal grasses, it would appear that the Scots were ahead of the rest of us. Today, whole oats are still used as animal fodder. Humans don't usually consume them until after the oats have been cleaned, toasted, hulled and cleaned again, after which time they become oat groats (which still contain most of the original nutrients). Oat groats can be cooked and served as cereal, or prepared in the same manner as rice and used as a side dish or in a dish such as a salad or stuffing. When steamed and flattened with huge rollers, oat groats become regular rolled oats (also called old-fashioned oats). They take about 15 minutes to cook. Quick-cooking rolled oats are groats that have been cut into several pieces before being steamed and rolled into thinner flakes. Though they cook in about 5 minutes, many think the flavor and texture are never quite as satisfying as with regular rolled oats. Old-fashioned oats and quick-cooking oats can usually be interchanged in recipes. Instant oats, however, are not interchangeable because they're made with cut groats that have been precooked and dried before being rolled. This precooking process so softens the oat pieces that, after being combined with a liquid, the mixture can turn baked goods such as muffins or cookies into gooey lumps. Most instant oatmeal is packaged with salt, sugar and other flavorings. Scotch oats or steel-cut oats or Irish oatmeal are all names for groats that have been cut into 2 to 3 pieces and not rolled. They take considerably longer to cook than rolled oats and have a decidedly chewy texture. Oat flour is made from groats that have been ground into powder. It contains no gluten, however, so-for baked goods that need to rise, like yeast breads-must be combined with a flour that does. Oat bran is the outer casing of the oat and is particularly high in soluble fiber, thought to be a leading contender in the fight against high cholesterol. Oat bran, groats, flour and Scotch oats are more likely to be found in natural food stores than supermarkets. Oats are high in vitamin B₁ and contain a good amount of vitamins B₂ and E.

Oats, grains of the genus Avena of the family Gramineae (grass family) thrive in the moist, temperate regions of the world, though they may be cultivated in a variety of climates. The most widely cultivated is the Avena sativa, a cereal grass used for food and fodder. The plant has a flowering and fruiting structure known as in-florescence and is made up of many branches bearing florets that produce the caryopsis or one-seeded fruit. Like most cultivated plants, oats were domesticated from wild varieties at an unknown time. Domestication may have occurred around 2500 B.C., which is recent compared to other common grains.

The wild oat can be traced to western Europe, where it grew as a weed. In northern Europe, as horses were increasingly used as draft animals, oats were grown as feed. Wild oats spread from Europe to other parts of the world and were brought to North America by explorers and settlers who also introduced other grains, such as wheat, rye, barley, and flax, all crops commonly produced by American farms in the twenty-first century. Bartholomew Gosnold planted oats on the Elizabeth Islands in Buzzards Bay about 1600. The Jamestown colonists planted them in 1611. They were grown early in Newfoundland and New Netherland, along with wheat, for beer and for horses, and they spread throughout the English colonies. In the eighteenth century farmers in the Middle Colonies began to use horses instead of oxen and sowed more oats for feed. It was common that as horses became more numerous, oat production increased. George Washington tended several hundred acres of oats at his Mount Vernon farm. Oatmeal became popular during the Civil War, and by the end of the war the demand for oats had increased.

Oats have a high nutritive value but are primarily produced for livestock feed. Their agricultural uses are various. Oats are valuable in crop rotation, and oat straw is used for animal feed and bedding. Those oats produced for human consumption are chiefly rolled oats, flattened kernels with the hulls removed, used as a breakfast food and a baking ingredient. Oat flour, although used in the production of some food, does not contain the glutinous type of protein necessary for making bread. Oat grains are high in carbohydrates and contain about 13 percent protein and 7.5 percent fat. They are a source of calcium, iron, and vitamin B₁. Bran content varies as some or all of the bran is frequently removed and used as a separate food product. Furfural, a chemical used in various types of solvents, is derived from oat hulls.

The Quaker Oats Company, the largest U.S. producer of cereal oats, officially formed in 1901, when the Quaker Mill Company of Ohio incorporated with a large cereal mill in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the German Mills American Oatmeal Company of Ohio. In the early twenty-first century the United States was one of the leading oatproducing countries.

Bibliography

Beeman, Randal S., and James A. Pritchard. A Green and Permanent Land: Ecology and Agriculture in the Twentieth Century. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001.

Heiser, Charles B., Jr. Seed to Civilization: The Story of Man's Food. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1973.

Hoffbeck, Steven R. The Haymakers: A Chronicle of Five Farm Families. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2000.

Dansk (Danish)
n. pl. - havre, havregrød

idioms:

• feel one's oats    være kåd, være i hopla
• get one's oats    komme i seng med en person
• off one's oats    tabe appetitten, være sløj
• sow one's wild oats    opføre sig vildt, dyrke uforpligtende sex

Nederlands (Dutch)
haver

Français (French)
n. pl. - avoine

idioms:

• feel one's oats    être en pleine forme, faire l'important
• get one's oats    (GB) baiser (arg)
• off one's oats    (manquer) d'appétit
• sow one's wild oats    faire des fredaines, jeter sa gourme

Deutsch (German)
n. pl. - Hafer

idioms:

• feel one's oats    vom Hafer gestochen sein, sich wichtig fühlen
• get one's oats    sexuelle Befriedigung bekommen
• off one's oats    appetitlos
• sow one's wild oats    sich die Hörner abstoßen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. pl. - βρώμη

idioms:

• feel one's oats    νιώθω ζωηρός, (ΗΠΑ) έχω μεγάλη ιδέα για τον εαυτό μου, μεγαλοπιάνομαι
• get one's oats    κάνω τακτικά έρωτα
• off one's oats    κακοδιάθετος και ανόρεχτος
• sow one's wild oats    κάνω νεανικές τρέλες

Italiano (Italian)
avena

idioms:

• feel one's oats    sentirsi in forma
• get one's oats    sentirsi sessualmente soddisfatto
• off one's oats    senza appetito
• sow one's wild oats    correre la cavallina

Português (Portuguese)
n. pl. - aveia

idioms:

• feel one's oats    sentir-se eufórico
• get one's oats    alimentar-se
• off one's oats    inapetência
• sow one's wild oats    entregar-se aos desvarios da mocidade

Русский (Russian)
овес

idioms:

• feel one's oats    важничать
• get one's oats    не испытывать недостатка
• off one's oats    потерять аппетит
• sow one's wild oats    кутить, буянить

Español (Spanish)
n. pl. - avena

idioms:

• feel one's oats    estar muy pagado de sí mismo, sentirse en buena forma
• get one's oats    tener relaciones sexuales
• off one's oats    estar indispuesto, no estar en forma, no tener apetito
• sow one's wild oats    andar de picos pardos, correrla, calaverear, pasar las mocedades

Svenska (Swedish)
n. pl. - havre

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
麦

idioms:

• feel one's oats    兴高采烈, 自命不凡
• get one's oats    自作自受, 性交, 过性生活
• off one's oats    胃口不好
• sow one's wild oats    放荡

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. pl. - 麥

idioms:

• feel one's oats    興高采烈, 自命不凡
• get one's oats    自作自受, 性交, 過性生活
• off one's oats    胃口不好
• sow one's wild oats    放蕩

한국어 (Korean)
n. pl. - 귀리씨앗

idioms:

• get one's oats    기운을 회복하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - オートミール, カラスムギ

idioms:

• get one's oats    元気になる
• off one's oats    食欲がなく

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الجمع) نوع من الحبوب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. pl. - ‮דייסת קוואקר, שיבולת שועל‬

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