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{{Mergefrom|oat milling|date=April 2007}}
{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Oat
| image = Avena-sativa.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = Closeup of oat kernels
| regnum = [[Plantae]]
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Liliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Poales]]
| familia = [[Poaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Avena]]''
| species = '''''A. sativa'''''
| binomial = ''Avena sativa''
| binomial_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus]] (1753)
}}
The '''oat''' (''Avena sativa'') is a [[species]] of [[Cereal|cereal grain]], and the [[seed]]s of this [[plant]]. They are used for food for [[human|people]] and as [[fodder]] for [[animal]]s, especially [[poultry]] and [[horse]]s. Oat [[straw]] is used as animal bedding and sometimes as animal feed.
Since oats are unsuitable for making [[bread]] on their own, due to their lack of [[gluten]], they are often served as a [[porridge]] made from [[crushed oats|crushed]] or [[rolled oats]] (see [[oatmeal]]), and are also baked into [[cookies]] (oatcakes), which can have added [[wheat]] flour. As oat [[flour]] or oatmeal, they are also used in a variety of other baked goods (e.g. bread made from a mixture of oatmeal and wheat flour) and cold cereals, and as an ingredient in [[muesli]] and [[granola]]. Oats may also be consumed raw, and cookies with raw oats are becoming popular. Oats are also occasionally used in [[United Kingdom|Britain]] for [[brewing]] [[beer]]. [[Oatmeal stout]] is one variety brewed using a percentage of oats for the [[wort]]. The more rarely used Oat Malt is produced by the Thomas Fawcett & Sons Maltings and was used in the Maclay Oat Malt Stout before Maclay ceased independent brewing operations.
Oats also have non-food uses. Oat straw is also used in [[corn dolly]] making, and it is the favourite filling for [[lace-making|home made lace]] pillows. Oat extract can be used to soothe the skin conditions, e.g. in baths, skin products, etc.
A now obsolete [[Middle English]] name for the plant was ''haver'' (still used in most other [[Germanic languages]]), surviving in the name of the [[livestock]] feeding bag ''[[haversack]]''. In contrast with the names of the other grains, "oat" is usually used in the plural.
==Origin==
The wild ancestor of ''Avena sativa'' and the closely-related minor crop, ''A. byzantina'', is the hexaploid wild oat ''A. sterilis''. Genetic evidence shows that the ancestral forms of ''A. sterilis'' grow in the [[Fertile Crescent]] of the Near East. Domesticated oats appear relatively late, and far from the [[Near East]], in [[Bronze Age]] Europe. Oats, like [[rye]], are usually considered a secondary crop, i.e. derived from a weed of the primary cereal domesticates wheat and barley. As these cereals spread westwards into cooler, wetter areas, this may have favoured the oat weed component, leading to its eventual domestication. <ref>Zhou, X., Jellen, E.N., Murphy, J.P. 1999. Progenitor germplasm of domesticated hexaploid oat. <i>Crop science</i> 39: 1208-1214</ref>
==Cultivation==
{{agricultural production box
|plant=Oats
|year=2005
|country1={{RUS}} | amount1=5.1
|country2= {{CAN}} |amount2= 3.3
|country3= {{USA}} |amount3= 1.7
|country4= {{POL}} |amount4= 1.3
|country5= {{FIN}} |amount5= 1.2
|country6= {{AUS}}|amount6= 1.1
|country7= {{GER}} |amount7= 1.0
|country8= {{BLR}} |amount8= 0.8
|country9= {{CHN}} |amount9= 0.8
|country10= {{UKR}} |amount10= 0.8
|world=24.6
}}
[[Image:2005oat.PNG|thumb|left|Oat output in 2005]]
Oats are grown throughout the [[temperate]] zones. They have a lower summer heat requirement and greater tolerance of [[rain]] than other cereals like [[wheat]], [[rye]] or [[barley]], so are particularly important in areas with cool, wet summers such as [[Northwest Europe]], even being grown successfully in [[Iceland]]. Oats are an [[annual plant]], and can be planted either in autumn (for late summer harvest) or in the spring (for early [[autumn]] harvest).
Historical attitudes towards oats vary. Oat bread was first manufactured in [[England]], where the first oat bread factory was established in 1899. In [[S
cotland]] they were, and still are, held in high esteem, as a mainstay of the national diet. A traditional saying in England is that "oats are only fit to be fed to horses and Scotsmen", to which the Scottish riposte is "and England has the finest horses, and Scotland the finest men". [[Samuel Johnson]] notoriously defined ''oats'' in his ''Dictionary'' as "a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people". While frequently seen as derogatory, this is no less than the literal truth. Oats are so central to traditional Scottish cuisine that the [[Scottish English]] word "corn" refers to oats instead [[wheat]], as in England, and [[maize]] in [[North America]] and [[Australia]]. Oats grown in Scotland command a premium price throughout the [[United Kingdom]] as a result of these traditions.
==Health==
Oats are generally considered "healthy", or a [[health food]], being touted commercially as nutritious. The discovery of the healthy [[cholesterol]]-lowering properties has led to wider appreciation of oats as human food.
[[Image:Haverkorrels Avena sativa.jpg|right|thumb|Oat grains in their husks]]
=== Soluble fiber ===
Oat [[bran]] is the outer casing of the oat. Its consumption is believed to lower [[LDL]] ("bad") [[cholesterol]], and possibly to reduce the risk of [[heart disease]].
After reports found that oats can help lower cholesterol, an "oat bran craze" swept the U.S. in the late 1980s, peaking in [[1989]], when [[potato chip]]s with added oat bran were marketed. The food fad was short-lived and faded by the early 1990s. The popularity of oatmeal and other oat products again increased after the January [[1998]] decision by the [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) when it issued its final rule allowing a [[health claims on food labels|health claim]] to be made on the labels of foods containing soluble fiber from whole oats (oat bran, oat flour and rolled oats), noting that 3 grams of soluble fiber daily from these foods, in conjunction with a diet low in [[saturated fat]], cholesterol, and [[fat]] may reduce the risk of [[heart disease]]. In order to qualify for the health claim, the whole oat-containing food must provide at least 0.75 grams of soluble fiber per serving. The soluble fiber in whole oats comprise a class of [[polysaccharide]]s known as [[Beta-D-glucan]].
Beta-D-glucans, usually referred to as beta-glucans, comprise a class of non-digestible polysaccharides widely found in nature in sources such as grains, [[barley]], [[yeast]], [[bacteria]], [[algae]] and [[mushroom]]s. In oats, barley and other cereal grains, they are located primarily in the [[endosperm]] [[cell wall]].
Oat beta-glucan is a soluble fiber. It is a viscous polysaccharide made up of units of the [[sugar]] D-[[glucose]]. Oat beta-glucan is comprised of mixed-linkage polysaccharides. This means that the [[chemical bond|bonds]] between the D-glucose or D-glucopyranosyl units are either beta-1, 3 linkages or beta-1, 4 linkages. This type of beta-glucan is also referred to as a mixed-linkage (1→3), (1→4)-beta-D-glucan. The (1→3)-linkages break up the uniform structure of the beta-D-glucan molecule and make it soluble and flexible. In comparison, the non-digestible polysaccharide [[cellulose]] is also a beta-glucan but is non-soluble. The reason that it is non-soluble is that cellulose consists only of (1→4)-beta-D-linkages. The percentages of beta-glucan in the various whole oat products are: oat bran, greater than 5.5% and up to 23.0%; rolled oats, about 4%; whole oat flour about 4%.
Oats after corn ([[maize]]) has the highest [[lipid]] content of any cereal, e.g., greater than 10 percent for oats and as high as 17 percent for some maize cultivars compared to about 2–3 percent for wheat and most other cereals. The polar [[lipid]] content of oats (about 8–17% glycolipid and 10–20% phospholipid or a total of about 33% ) is greater than that of other cereals since much of the lipid fraction is contained within the endosperm.
=== Protein ===
{{nutritionalvalue | name=Oats | kJ=1628 | protein=1
7 g | fat=7 g | carbs=66 g | fiber=11 g | iron_mg=5 | magnesium_mg=177 | thamin_mg=0.8 | pantothenic_mg=1.3 | folate_ug=56 | opt1n=β-glucan (soluble fiber) | opt1v=4 g | source_usda=1 | right=1 }}
Oat is the only cereal containing a [[globulin]] or [[legume]]-like protein, avenalin, as the major (80%) storage protein. Globulins are characterized by water solubility; because of this property, oats may be turned into milk but not into bread. The more typical cereal proteins are [[gluten]] and [[prolamine]]s {{clarifyme}}. The minor protein of oat is a prolamine: avenin.
Oat protein is nearly equivalent in quality to [[soy protein]], which has been shown by the [[World Health Organization]] to be the equal to meat, milk, and egg protein. The protein content of the hull-less oat kernel ([[groat]]) ranges from 12–24%, the highest among cereals. <ref>{{cite book|last=Lasztity|first=Radomir|year=1999|title=The Chemistry of Cereal Proteins|publisher=Akademiai Kiado(English)|isbn=978-0849327636}}</ref>
=== Celiac Disease ===
[[Coeliac disease]], or celiac disease, from Greek "koiliakos", meaning "suffering in the bowels", is a disease often associated with ingestion of [[wheat]], or more specifically a group of proteins labelled prolamines, or more commonly, [[gluten]].
Oats lack many of the prolamines found in wheat; however, oats do contain avenin<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csaceliacs.org/library/useofoats.php |title=On the Use of Oats in the Gluten-Free Diet |accessdate=2006-10-31 |date=2006-09-26 |author=Rottmann LH |publisher=Celiac Sprue Association/United States of America, Inc. (CSA) }}</ref>. Avenin is a prolamine that is toxic to the intestinal submucosa and can trigger a reaction in some celiacs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csaceliacs.org/library/InfoonOats.php |title=Info on Oats |accessdate=2006-10-31 |date=2006-09-26 |publisher=Celiac Sprue Association/United States of America, Inc. (CSA) }}</ref>
Although oats do contain avenin, there are several studies suggesting that oats can be a part of a gluten free diet if it is pure. The first such study was published in 1995<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/333/16/1033 |title=A Comparison of Diets with and without Oats in Adults with Celiac Disease |date=1995-10-19 |author=Janatuinen, E et al. |publisher=New England Journal of Medicine}}</ref>. A follow-up study indicated that it is safe to use oats even in a longer period (Janatuinen EK, Kemppainen TA, Julkunen RJK, Kosma V-M, Mäki M, Heikkinen M, Uusitupa MI. No harm from five year ingestion of oats in celiac disease. Gut 2002:50;332-335).
Additionally, oats are frequently processed near wheat, barley and other grains such that they become contaminated with other glutens. Because of this, the [[FAO]]'s [[Codex Alimentarius Commission]] officially lists them as a crop containing gluten. Oats from [[Ireland]] and [[Scotland]], where less wheat is grown, are less likely to be contaminated in this way.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
Oats are part of a gluten free diet in, for example, Finland and Sweden. In both of these countries there are "pure oat" products on the market.
==Agronomy==
Oats are sown in the spring, as soon as the soil can be worked. An early start is crucial to good yields as oats will go dormant during the summer heat. Oats are cold-tolerant and will be unaffected by late frosts or snow. Typically about 100 kg/hectare (about 2 bushels per acre) are sown, either broadcast or drilled in 150 mm (6 inch) rows. Lower rates are used when [[underseeding]] with a [[legume]]. Somewhat higher rates can be used on the best soils. Excessive sowing rates will lead to problems with lodging and may reduce yields.
[[Image:Various grains.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Oats, barley, and some products made from them.]]
Winter oats may be grown as an off-season [[groundcover]] and plowed under in the spring as a [[green fertilizer]].
Oats remove substantial amounts of [[nitrogen]] from the soil. They also remove phosphorous in the form of P<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> at the rate of
.25 pounds per bushel per acre (1 bushel = 32 pounds at 14% moisture). Oats remove potash (K<sub>2</sub>O) at a rate of .19 pounds per bushel per acre. If the straw is removed from the soil rather than being ploughed back, the removal rate of phosphorous is 8 pounds per ton per acre and the rate of [[potash]] removal is 40 pounds per ton per acre. Usually 50–100 kg/hectare (50–100 pounds per acre) of nitrogen in the form of [[urea]] or [[ammonia|ammonium sulphate]] is sufficient. A sufficient amount of nitrogen is particularly important for plant height and hence straw quality and yield. When the prior-year crop was a legume, or where ample manure is applied, nitrogen rates can be reduced somewhat.
The vigorous growth habit of oats will tend to choke out most weeds. A few tall [[broadleaf]] weeds, such as [[ragweed]], [[goosegrass]] and [[buttonweed]] (velvetleaf), can occasionally be a problem as they complicate harvest. These can be controlled with a modest application of a broadleaf herbicide such as [[2,4-D]] while the weeds are still small.
Modern harvest technique is a matter of available equipment, local tradition, and priorities. Best yields are attained by [[swather|swathing]], cutting the plants at about 10 cm (4 inches) above ground and putting them into windrows with the grain all oriented the same way, just before the grain is completely ripe. The windrows are left to dry in the sun for several days before being combined using a dummy head. Then the straw is baled.
Oats can also be left standing until completely ripe and then [[combine harvester|combined]] with a grain head. This will lead to greater field losses as the grain falls from the heads and to harvesting losses as the grain is threshed out by the reel. Without a draper head, there will also be somewhat more damage to the straw since it will not be properly oriented as it enters the throat of the [[combine harvester|combine]]. Overall yield loss is 10–15% compared to proper swathing.
Historical harvest methods involved cutting with a scythe or sickle, and threshing under the feet of cattle. Late [[19th century|19th]] and early 20th century harvesting was performed using a [[binder]]. Oats were gathered into shocks and then collected and run through a stationary [[threshing machine]].
A good yield is typically about 3,000 kg/hectare (100 bushels/acre) of grain and two tonnes of straw.
== Trivia ==
* The eruption of [[Mount Tambora]] caused a change in world [[climate]] resulting in a [[volcanic winter]] and the "[[year without a summer]]" in [[1816]], during which time the price of oats rose dramatically, for example in the [[United States|USA]] from 12 to 92 [[Cent (currency)|cents]] per [[bushel]]. This led to the starvation of many [[horse]]s, which in turn led to [[transportation]] problems, which [[Karl Drais|Baron Karl von Drais]] attempted to solve by inventing the [[dandy horse]], the direct precursor to the [[bicycle]].
* Bodybuilders may be known to eat copious amounts of oats to get adequate carbohydrate.
* Oats are sometimes marketed, while in seed-form, as 'Cat Grass'. This is then grown and fed to the cat as a treat, or as aid to digestion.
==See also==
*[[Oat milk]]
*[[Quaker Oats Company]]
*[[Steel-cut oats]]
*[[Rolled oats]]
*[[Oatmeal]]
== References ==
<div class="references-small">
<references />
</div>
{{Cereals}}
[[Category:Cereals]]
[[Category:Grasses]]
[[Category:Medicinal plants]]
{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Oat
| image = Avena-sativa.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = Closeup of oat kernels
| regnum = [[Plantae]]
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Liliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Poales]]
| familia = [[Poaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Avena]]''
| species = '''''A. sativa'''''
| binomial = ''Avena sativa''
| binomial_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus]] (1753)
}}
The '''oat''' (''Avena sativa'') is a [[species]] of [[Cereal|cereal grain]], and the [[seed]]s of this [[plant]]. They are used for food for [[human|people]] and as [[fodder]] for [[animal]]s, especially [[poultry]] and [[horse]]s. Oat [[straw]] is used as animal bedding and sometimes as animal feed.
Since oats are unsuitable for making [[bread]] on their own, due to their lack of [[gluten]], they are often served as a [[porridge]] made from [[crushed oats|crushed]] or [[rolled oats]] (see [[oatmeal]]), and are also baked into [[cookies]] (oatcakes), which can have added [[wheat]] flour. As oat [[flour]] or oatmeal, they are also used in a variety of other baked goods (e.g. bread made from a mixture of oatmeal and wheat flour) and cold cereals, and as an ingredient in [[muesli]] and [[granola]]. Oats may also be consumed raw, and cookies with raw oats are becoming popular. Oats are also occasionally used in [[United Kingdom|Britain]] for [[brewing]] [[beer]]. [[Oatmeal stout]] is one variety brewed using a percentage of oats for the [[wort]]. The more rarely used Oat Malt is produced by the Thomas Fawcett & Sons Maltings and was used in the Maclay Oat Malt Stout before Maclay ceased independent brewing operations.
Oats also have non-food uses. Oat straw is also used in [[corn dolly]] making, and it is the favourite filling for [[lace-making|home made lace]] pillows. Oat extract can be used to soothe the skin conditions, e.g. in baths, skin products, etc.
A now obsolete [[Middle English]] name for the plant was ''haver'' (still used in most other [[Germanic languages]]), surviving in the name of the [[livestock]] feeding bag ''[[haversack]]''. In contrast with the names of the other grains, "oat" is usually used in the plural.
==Origin==
The wild ancestor of ''Avena sativa'' and the closely-related minor crop, ''A. byzantina'', is the hexaploid wild oat ''A. sterilis''. Genetic evidence shows that the ancestral forms of ''A. sterilis'' grow in the [[Fertile Crescent]] of the Near East. Domesticated oats appear relatively late, and far from the [[Near East]], in [[Bronze Age]] Europe. Oats, like [[rye]], are usually considered a secondary crop, i.e. derived from a weed of the primary cereal domesticates wheat and barley. As these cereals spread westwards into cooler, wetter areas, this may have favoured the oat weed component, leading to its eventual domestication. <ref>Zhou, X., Jellen, E.N., Murphy, J.P. 1999. Progenitor germplasm of domesticated hexaploid oat. <i>Crop science</i> 39: 1208-1214</ref>
==Cultivation==
{{agricultural production box
|plant=Oats
|year=2005
|country1={{RUS}} | amount1=5.1
|country2= {{CAN}} |amount2= 3.3
|country3= {{USA}} |amount3= 1.7
|country4= {{POL}} |amount4= 1.3
|country5= {{FIN}} |amount5= 1.2
|country6= {{AUS}}|amount6= 1.1
|country7= {{GER}} |amount7= 1.0
|country8= {{BLR}} |amount8= 0.8
|country9= {{CHN}} |amount9= 0.8
|country10= {{UKR}} |amount10= 0.8
|world=24.6
}}
[[Image:2005oat.PNG|thumb|left|Oat output in 2005]]
Oats are grown throughout the [[temperate]] zones. They have a lower summer heat requirement and greater tolerance of [[rain]] than other cereals like [[wheat]], [[rye]] or [[barley]], so are particularly important in areas with cool, wet summers such as [[Northwest Europe]], even being grown successfully in [[Iceland]]. Oats are an [[annual plant]], and can be planted either in autumn (for late summer harvest) or in the spring (for early [[autumn]] harvest).
Historical attitudes towards oats vary. Oat bread was first manufactured in [[England]], where the first oat bread factory was established in 1899. In [[S
cotland]] they were, and still are, held in high esteem, as a mainstay of the national diet. A traditional saying in England is that "oats are only fit to be fed to horses and Scotsmen", to which the Scottish riposte is "and England has the finest horses, and Scotland the finest men". [[Samuel Johnson]] notoriously defined ''oats'' in his ''Dictionary'' as "a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people". While frequently seen as derogatory, this is no less than the literal truth. Oats are so central to traditional Scottish cuisine that the [[Scottish English]] word "corn" refers to oats instead [[wheat]], as in England, and [[maize]] in [[North America]] and [[Australia]]. Oats grown in Scotland command a premium price throughout the [[United Kingdom]] as a result of these traditions.
==Health==
Oats are generally considered "healthy", or a [[health food]], being touted commercially as nutritious. The discovery of the healthy [[cholesterol]]-lowering properties has led to wider appreciation of oats as human food.
[[Image:Haverkorrels Avena sativa.jpg|right|thumb|Oat grains in their husks]]
=== Soluble fiber ===
Oat [[bran]] is the outer casing of the oat. Its consumption is believed to lower [[LDL]] ("bad") [[cholesterol]], and possibly to reduce the risk of [[heart disease]].
After reports found that oats can help lower cholesterol, an "oat bran craze" swept the U.S. in the late 1980s, peaking in [[1989]], when [[potato chip]]s with added oat bran were marketed. The food fad was short-lived and faded by the early 1990s. The popularity of oatmeal and other oat products again increased after the January [[1998]] decision by the [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) when it issued its final rule allowing a [[health claims on food labels|health claim]] to be made on the labels of foods containing soluble fiber from whole oats (oat bran, oat flour and rolled oats), noting that 3 grams of soluble fiber daily from these foods, in conjunction with a diet low in [[saturated fat]], cholesterol, and [[fat]] may reduce the risk of [[heart disease]]. In order to qualify for the health claim, the whole oat-containing food must provide at least 0.75 grams of soluble fiber per serving. The soluble fiber in whole oats comprise a class of [[polysaccharide]]s known as [[Beta-D-glucan]].
Beta-D-glucans, usually referred to as beta-glucans, comprise a class of non-digestible polysaccharides widely found in nature in sources such as grains, [[barley]], [[yeast]], [[bacteria]], [[algae]] and [[mushroom]]s. In oats, barley and other cereal grains, they are located primarily in the [[endosperm]] [[cell wall]].
Oat beta-glucan is a soluble fiber. It is a viscous polysaccharide made up of units of the [[sugar]] D-[[glucose]]. Oat beta-glucan is comprised of mixed-linkage polysaccharides. This means that the [[chemical bond|bonds]] between the D-glucose or D-glucopyranosyl units are either beta-1, 3 linkages or beta-1, 4 linkages. This type of beta-glucan is also referred to as a mixed-linkage (1→3), (1→4)-beta-D-glucan. The (1→3)-linkages break up the uniform structure of the beta-D-glucan molecule and make it soluble and flexible. In comparison, the non-digestible polysaccharide [[cellulose]] is also a beta-glucan but is non-soluble. The reason that it is non-soluble is that cellulose consists only of (1→4)-beta-D-linkages. The percentages of beta-glucan in the various whole oat products are: oat bran, greater than 5.5% and up to 23.0%; rolled oats, about 4%; whole oat flour about 4%.
Oats after corn ([[maize]]) has the highest [[lipid]] content of any cereal, e.g., greater than 10 percent for oats and as high as 17 percent for some maize cultivars compared to about 2–3 percent for wheat and most other cereals. The polar [[lipid]] content of oats (about 8–17% glycolipid and 10–20% phospholipid or a total of about 33% ) is greater than that of other cereals since much of the lipid fraction is contained within the endosperm.
=== Protein ===
{{nutritionalvalue | name=Oats | kJ=1628 | protein=1
7 g | fat=7 g | carbs=66 g | fiber=11 g | iron_mg=5 | magnesium_mg=177 | thamin_mg=0.8 | pantothenic_mg=1.3 | folate_ug=56 | opt1n=β-glucan (soluble fiber) | opt1v=4 g | source_usda=1 | right=1 }}
Oat is the only cereal containing a [[globulin]] or [[legume]]-like protein, avenalin, as the major (80%) storage protein. Globulins are characterized by water solubility; because of this property, oats may be turned into milk but not into bread. The more typical cereal proteins are [[gluten]] and [[prolamine]]s {{clarifyme}}. The minor protein of oat is a prolamine: avenin.
Oat protein is nearly equivalent in quality to [[soy protein]], which has been shown by the [[World Health Organization]] to be the equal to meat, milk, and egg protein. The protein content of the hull-less oat kernel ([[groat]]) ranges from 12–24%, the highest among cereals. <ref>{{cite book|last=Lasztity|first=Radomir|year=1999|title=The Chemistry of Cereal Proteins|publisher=Akademiai Kiado(English)|isbn=978-0849327636}}</ref>
=== Celiac Disease ===
[[Coeliac disease]], or celiac disease, from Greek "koiliakos", meaning "suffering in the bowels", is a disease often associated with ingestion of [[wheat]], or more specifically a group of proteins labelled prolamines, or more commonly, [[gluten]].
Oats lack many of the prolamines found in wheat; however, oats do contain avenin<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csaceliacs.org/library/useofoats.php |title=On the Use of Oats in the Gluten-Free Diet |accessdate=2006-10-31 |date=2006-09-26 |author=Rottmann LH |publisher=Celiac Sprue Association/United States of America, Inc. (CSA) }}</ref>. Avenin is a prolamine that is toxic to the intestinal submucosa and can trigger a reaction in some celiacs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csaceliacs.org/library/InfoonOats.php |title=Info on Oats |accessdate=2006-10-31 |date=2006-09-26 |publisher=Celiac Sprue Association/United States of America, Inc. (CSA) }}</ref>
Although oats do contain avenin, there are several studies suggesting that oats can be a part of a gluten free diet if it is pure. The first such study was published in 1995<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/333/16/1033 |title=A Comparison of Diets with and without Oats in Adults with Celiac Disease |date=1995-10-19 |author=Janatuinen, E et al. |publisher=New England Journal of Medicine}}</ref>. A follow-up study indicated that it is safe to use oats even in a longer period (Janatuinen EK, Kemppainen TA, Julkunen RJK, Kosma V-M, Mäki M, Heikkinen M, Uusitupa MI. No harm from five year ingestion of oats in celiac disease. Gut 2002:50;332-335).
Additionally, oats are frequently processed near wheat, barley and other grains such that they become contaminated with other glutens. Because of this, the [[FAO]]'s [[Codex Alimentarius Commission]] officially lists them as a crop containing gluten. Oats from [[Ireland]] and [[Scotland]], where less wheat is grown, are less likely to be contaminated in this way.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
Oats are part of a gluten free diet in, for example, Finland and Sweden. In both of these countries there are "pure oat" products on the market.
==Agronomy==
Oats are sown in the spring, as soon as the soil can be worked. An early start is crucial to good yields as oats will go dormant during the summer heat. Oats are cold-tolerant and will be unaffected by late frosts or snow. Typically about 100 kg/hectare (about 2 bushels per acre) are sown, either broadcast or drilled in 150 mm (6 inch) rows. Lower rates are used when [[underseeding]] with a [[legume]]. Somewhat higher rates can be used on the best soils. Excessive sowing rates will lead to problems with lodging and may reduce yields.
[[Image:Various grains.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Oats, barley, and some products made from them.]]
Winter oats may be grown as an off-season [[groundcover]] and plowed under in the spring as a [[green fertilizer]].
Oats remove substantial amounts of [[nitrogen]] from the soil. They also remove phosphorous in the form of P<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> at the rate of
.25 pounds per bushel per acre (1 bushel = 32 pounds at 14% moisture). Oats remove potash (K<sub>2</sub>O) at a rate of .19 pounds per bushel per acre. If the straw is removed from the soil rather than being ploughed back, the removal rate of phosphorous is 8 pounds per ton per acre and the rate of [[potash]] removal is 40 pounds per ton per acre. Usually 50–100 kg/hectare (50–100 pounds per acre) of nitrogen in the form of [[urea]] or [[ammonia|ammonium sulphate]] is sufficient. A sufficient amount of nitrogen is particularly important for plant height and hence straw quality and yield. When the prior-year crop was a legume, or where ample manure is applied, nitrogen rates can be reduced somewhat.
The vigorous growth habit of oats will tend to choke out most weeds. A few tall [[broadleaf]] weeds, such as [[ragweed]], [[goosegrass]] and [[buttonweed]] (velvetleaf), can occasionally be a problem as they complicate harvest. These can be controlled with a modest application of a broadleaf herbicide such as [[2,4-D]] while the weeds are still small.
Modern harvest technique is a matter of available equipment, local tradition, and priorities. Best yields are attained by [[swather|swathing]], cutting the plants at about 10 cm (4 inches) above ground and putting them into windrows with the grain all oriented the same way, just before the grain is completely ripe. The windrows are left to dry in the sun for several days before being combined using a dummy head. Then the straw is baled.
Oats can also be left standing until completely ripe and then [[combine harvester|combined]] with a grain head. This will lead to greater field losses as the grain falls from the heads and to harvesting losses as the grain is threshed out by the reel. Without a draper head, there will also be somewhat more damage to the straw since it will not be properly oriented as it enters the throat of the [[combine harvester|combine]]. Overall yield loss is 10–15% compared to proper swathing.
Historical harvest methods involved cutting with a scythe or sickle, and threshing under the feet of cattle. Late [[19th century|19th]] and early 20th century harvesting was performed using a [[binder]]. Oats were gathered into shocks and then collected and run through a stationary [[threshing machine]].
A good yield is typically about 3,000 kg/hectare (100 bushels/acre) of grain and two tonnes of straw.
== Trivia ==
* The eruption of [[Mount Tambora]] caused a change in world [[climate]] resulting in a [[volcanic winter]] and the "[[year without a summer]]" in [[1816]], during which time the price of oats rose dramatically, for example in the [[United States|USA]] from 12 to 92 [[Cent (currency)|cents]] per [[bushel]]. This led to the starvation of many [[horse]]s, which in turn led to [[transportation]] problems, which [[Karl Drais|Baron Karl von Drais]] attempted to solve by inventing the [[dandy horse]], the direct precursor to the [[bicycle]].
* Bodybuilders may be known to eat copious amounts of oats to get adequate carbohydrate.
* Oats are sometimes marketed, while in seed-form, as 'Cat Grass'. This is then grown and fed to the cat as a treat, or as aid to digestion.
==See also==
*[[Oat milk]]
*[[Quaker Oats Company]]
*[[Steel-cut oats]]
*[[Rolled oats]]
*[[Oatmeal]]
== References ==
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{{Cereals}}
[[Category:Cereals]]
[[Category:Grasses]]
[[Category:Medicinal plants]]
