58-965: Oat (plural: oats) is a cereal grain crop. Oat or Oats may also refer to: Oat The oat ( Avena sativa ), sometimes called the common oat , is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop , as their seeds resembled those of other cereals closely enough for them to be included by early cultivators. Oats tolerate cold winters less well than cereals such as wheat , barley , and rye , but need less summer heat and more rain, making them important in areas such as Northwest Europe that have cool wet summers. They can tolerate low-nutrient and acid soils. Oats grow thickly and vigorously, allowing them to outcompete many weeds, and compared to other cereals are relatively free from diseases. Oats are used for human consumption as oatmeal , including as steel cut oats or rolled oats . Global production
116-499: A sod -forming perennial grass used in agriculture is Thinopyrum intermedium . Grasses are used as raw material for a multitude of purposes, including construction and in the composition of building materials such as cob , for insulation, in the manufacture of paper and board such as oriented structural straw board . Grass fiber can be used for making paper , biofuel production, nonwoven fabrics, and as replacement for glass fibers used in reinforced plastics. Bamboo scaffolding
174-439: A blended food pellet. Cattle are also fed oats, either whole or ground into a coarse flour using a roller mill , burr mill , or hammermill . Oat forage is commonly used to feed all kinds of ruminants, as pasture, straw, hay or silage. Winter oats may be grown as an off-season groundcover and ploughed under in the spring as a green fertilizer , or harvested in early summer. They also can be used for pasture; they can be grazed
232-578: A green manure. Phylogenetic analysis using molecular DNA and morphological evidence places the oat genus Avena in the Pooideae subfamily. That subfamily includes the cereals wheat , barley , and rye ; they are in the Triticeae tribe, while Avena is in the Poeae , along with grasses such as Briza and Agrostis . The wild ancestor of Avena sativa and the closely related minor crop – A. byzantina –
290-426: A height of 1.8 metres (5.9 ft). The leaves are long, narrow, and pointed, and grow upwards; they can be some 15 to 40 centimetres (5.9 to 15.7 in) in length, and around 5 to 15 millimetres (0.20 to 0.59 in) in width. At the top of the stem, the plant branches into a loose cluster or panicle of spikelets . These contain the wind-pollinated flowers, which mature into the oat seeds or grains. Botanically
348-813: A lower summer heat requirement and greater tolerance of (and need for) rain than the other cereals mentioned, so they are particularly important in areas with cool, wet summers, such as Northwest Europe. Oats can grow in most fertile, drained soils, being tolerant of a wide variety of soil types. Although better yields are achieved at a soil pH of 5.3 to 5.7, oats can tolerate soils with a pH as low as 4.5. They are better able to grow in low-nutrient soils than wheat or maize , but generally are less tolerant of high soil salinity than other cereals. Oats can outcompete many weeds, as they grow thickly (with many leafy shoots) and vigorously, but are still subject to some broadleaf weeds . Control can be by herbicides, or by integrated pest management with measures such as sowing seed that
406-463: A percentage of oats, often 30%, is added to the barley for the wort . Oatmeal caudle , made of ale and oatmeal with spices, was a traditional British drink and a favourite of Oliver Cromwell . Oats are commonly used as feed for horses when extra carbohydrates and the subsequent boost in energy are required. The oat hull may be crushed (" rolled " or "crimped") to make them easier to digest, or may be fed whole. They may be given alone or as part of
464-577: A photosynthetic pathway, linked to specialized Kranz leaf anatomy , which allows for increased water use efficiency , rendering them better adapted to hot, arid environments. The C3 grasses are referred to as "cool-season" grasses, while the C4 plants are considered "warm-season" grasses. Although the C4 species are all in the PACMAD clade (see diagram below), it seems that various forms of C4 have arisen some twenty or more times, in various subfamilies or genera. In
522-471: A prevalence of about 1% in the developed world . Oat products are frequently contaminated by other gluten-containing grains, mainly wheat and barley , requiring caution in the use of oats if people are sensitive to the gluten in those grains. For example, oat bread often contains only a small proportion of oats alongside wheat or other cereals. Use of pure oats in a gluten-free diet offers improved nutritional value, but remains controversial because
580-476: A rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value , DV) of protein (34% DV), dietary fiber (44% DV), several B vitamins , and numerous dietary minerals , especially manganese (213% DV) (table). Regular consumption of oat products lowers blood levels of low-density lipoprotein and total cholesterol , reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease . The beneficial effect of oat consumption on lowering blood lipids
638-777: A small proportion of people with celiac disease react to pure oats. In his 1755 Dictionary of the English Language , Samuel Johnson defined oats as "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." "Oats and Beans and Barley Grow" is the first line of a traditional folksong (1380 in the Roud Folk Song Index ), recorded in different forms from 1870. Similar songs are recorded from France, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, and Italy. In English , oats are associated with sexual intercourse , as in
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#1732858170564696-596: A smaller part of the vegetation in almost every other terrestrial habitat. Grass-dominated biomes are called grasslands. If only large, contiguous areas of grasslands are counted, these biomes cover 31% of the planet's land. Grasslands include pampas , steppes , and prairies . Grasses provide food to many grazing mammals, as well as to many species of butterflies and moths . Many types of animals eat grass as their main source of food, and are called graminivores – these include cattle , sheep , horses , rabbits and many invertebrates , such as grasshoppers and
754-512: A source for novel traits in oats. For example, research on oat-maize-addition lines has been used to map genes involved in C4 photosynthesis . To obtain Mendelian inheritance of these novel traits, radiation hybrid lines have been established, where maize chromosome segments have been introgressed into the oat genome. This potentially transfers thousands of genes from a species that is distantly related, but
812-904: A variety that include grasses that are related to modern rice and bamboo . Grasses have adapted to conditions in lush rain forests , dry deserts , cold mountains and even intertidal habitats , and are currently the most widespread plant type; grass is a valuable source of food and energy for all sorts of wildlife. A cladogram shows subfamilies and approximate species numbers in brackets: Chloridoideae (1600) Danthonioideae (300) Micrairoideae (200) Arundinoideae (50) Panicoideae (3250) Aristidoideae (350) Oryzoideae (110) Bambusoideae – bamboos (1450) Pooideae (3850) Puelioideae (11) Pharoideae (13) Anomochlooideae (4) Before 2005, fossil findings indicated that grasses evolved around 55 million years ago. Finds of grass-like phytoliths in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites from
870-518: A while, then allowed to head out for grain production, or grazed continuously until other pastures are ready. Oat straw is used as animal bedding; it absorbs liquids better than wheat straw. The straw can be used for making corn dollies , small decorative woven figures. Tied in a muslin bag, oat straw has been used to soften bath water. Celiac (or coeliac) disease is a permanent autoimmune disease triggered by gluten proteins. It almost always occurs in genetically predisposed people, having
928-562: Is A. sterilis , a naturally hexaploid wild oat, one that has its DNA in six sets of chromosomes . Genetic evidence shows that the ancestral forms of A. sterilis grew in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East. Analysis of maternal lineages of 25 Avena species using chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA showed that A. sativa 's hexaploid genome derives from three diploid oat species (each with two sets of chromosomes);
986-473: Is a grass used as a culinary herb for its citrus-like flavor and scent. Many species of grass are grown as pasture for foraging or as fodder for prescribed livestock feeds, particularly in the case of cattle , horses , and sheep . Such grasses may be cut and stored for later feeding, especially for the winter, in the form of bales of hay or straw , or in silos as silage . Straw (and sometimes hay) may also be used as bedding for animals. An example of
1044-566: Is able to withstand typhoon-force winds that would break steel scaffolding. Larger bamboos and Arundo donax have stout culms that can be used in a manner similar to timber, Arundo is used to make reeds for woodwind instruments , and bamboo is used for innumerable implements. Phragmites australis (common reed) is important for thatching and wall construction of homes in Africa. Grasses are used in water treatment systems, in wetland conservation and land reclamation , and used to lessen
1102-468: Is attributed to oat beta-glucan . Oat consumption can help to reduce body mass index in obese people. The United States Food and Drug Administration allows companies to make health claims on labels of food products that contain soluble fiber from whole oats, as long as the food provides 0.75 grams of soluble fiber per serving. When used in foods, oats are most commonly rolled or crushed into oatmeal or ground into fine oat flour . Oatmeal
1160-497: Is chiefly eaten as porridge , but may also be used in a variety of baked goods, such as oatcakes (which may be made with coarse steel-cut oats for a rougher texture), oatmeal cookies and oat bread. Oats are an ingredient in many cold cereals, in particular muesli and granola ; the Quaker Oats Company introduced instant oatmeal in 1966. Oats are also used to produce milk substitutes (" oat milk "). As of late 2020,
1218-430: Is cleaning, to remove seeds of other plants, stones and any other extraneous materials. Next is dehulling to remove the indigestible bran, leaving the seed or " groat ". Heating denatures enzymes in the seed that would make it go sour or rancid; the grain is then dried to minimise the risk of spoilage by bacteria and fungi. There may follow numerous stages of cutting or grinding the grain, depending on which sort of product
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#17328581705641276-405: Is dominated by Canada and Russia; global trade is a small part of production, most of the grain being consumed within the producing countries. Oats are a nutrient -rich food associated with lower blood cholesterol and reduced risk of human heart disease when consumed regularly. One of the most common uses of oats is as livestock feed; the crop can also be grown as groundcover and ploughed in as
1334-676: Is free of weeds. Oats are relatively free from diseases. Nonetheless, they suffer from some leaf diseases, such as stem rust ( Puccinia graminis f. sp. avenae ) and crown rust ( P. coronata var. avenae ). Crown rust infection can greatly reduce photosynthesis and overall physiological activities of oat leaves, thereby reducing growth and crop yield. Oats are attacked by nematodes and by insects including aphids, armyworms, cockchafers, grasshoppers, thrips, and wireworms. Most of these pests are not specific to oats, and only occasionally cause significant damage to oat crops. Harvested oats go through multiple stages of milling. The first stage
1392-606: Is linked to crop improvement, since meiotic recombination is an important component of plant breeding . Unlike in animals, the specification of both male and female plant germlines occurs late in development during flowering. The transition from the sporophyte phase to the gametophyte state is initiated by meiotic entry. Grasses are, in human terms, perhaps the most economically important plant family. Their economic importance stems from several areas, including food production, industry, and lawns . They have been grown as food for domesticated animals for up to 6,000 years and
1450-426: Is not considered a GMO technique. A 2013 study applied simple sequence repeat and found five major groupings, namely commercial cultivars and four landrace groups. Uncooked oats are 66% carbohydrates , including 11% dietary fiber and 4% beta-glucans , 7% fat , 17% protein , and 8% water (table). In a reference serving of 100 g (3.5 oz), oats provide 389 kilocalories (1,630 kJ ) and are
1508-409: Is required. For oatmeal (oat flour), the grain is ground to a specified fineness. For home use such as making porridge , oats are often rolled flat to make them quicker to cook. Oat flour can be ground for small scale use by pulsing rolled oats or old-fashioned (not quick) oats in a food processor or spice mill. In 2022, global production of oats was 26 million tonnes, led by Canada with 20% of
1566-449: The Aristida genus for example, one species ( A. longifolia ) is C3 but the approximately 300 other species are C4. As another example, the whole tribe of Andropogoneae , which includes maize , sorghum , sugar cane , " Job's tears ", and bluestem grasses , is C4. Around 46 percent of grass species are C4 plants. The name Poaceae was given by John Hendley Barnhart in 1895, based on
1624-748: The Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous approximately 113–100 million years ago, which were found to belong to primitive lineages within Poaceae, similar in position to the Anomochlooideae. These are currently the oldest known grass fossils. The relationships among the three subfamilies Bambusoideae, Oryzoideae and Pooideae in the BOP clade have been resolved: Bambusoideae and Pooideae are more closely related to each other than to Oryzoideae. This separation occurred within
1682-503: The Americas ). Sugarcane is the major source of sugar production. Additional food uses of sugarcane include sprouted grain , shoots , and rhizomes , and in drink they include sugarcane juice and plant milk , as well as rum , beer , whisky , and vodka . Bamboo shoots are used in numerous Asian dishes and broths, and are available in supermarkets in various sliced forms, in both fresh, fermented and canned versions. Lemongrass
1740-453: The Cenozoic contributed to the spread of grasses. Without large grazers, fire-cleared areas are quickly colonized by grasses, and with enough rain, tree seedlings. Trees eventually outcompete most grasses. Trampling grazers kill seedling trees but not grasses. Sexual reproduction and meiosis have been studied in rice , maize , wheat and barley . Meiosis research in these crop species
1798-504: The Chicago Board of Trade and have delivery dates in March, May, July, September, and December. Avena sativa is an allohexaploid species with three ancestral genomes (2 n =6 x =42; AACCDD). As a result, the genome is large (12.6 Gb, 1C-value=12.85) and complex. Cultivated hexaploid oat has a unique mosaic chromosome architecture that is the result of numerous translocations between
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1856-630: The Pre-Pottery Neolithic , about 11,400 to 11,200 years ago in the Jordan Valley in the Middle East contained a large number of wild oat grains (120,000 seeds of A. sterilis ). The find implies intentional cultivation . Domesticated oat grains first appear in the archaeological record in Europe around 3000 years ago. The oat is a tall stout grass, a member of the family Poaceae ; it can grow to
1914-842: The cereal grasses, bamboos , the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and pasture . The latter are commonly referred to collectively as grass . With around 780 genera and around 12,000 species, the Poaceae is the fifth-largest plant family , following the Asteraceae , Orchidaceae , Fabaceae and Rubiaceae . The Poaceae are the most economically important plant family, providing staple foods from domesticated cereal crops such as maize , wheat , rice , oats , barley , and millet for people and as feed for meat-producing animals . They provide, through direct human consumption, just over one-half (51%) of all dietary energy; rice provides 20%, wheat supplies 20%, maize (corn) 5.5%, and other grains 6%. Some members of
1972-422: The ligule lies at the junction between sheath and blade, preventing water or insects from penetrating into the sheath. Flowers of Poaceae are characteristically arranged in spikelets , each having one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes . The part of the spikelet that bears the florets is called the rachilla. A spikelet consists of two (or sometimes fewer) bracts at
2030-499: The CCDD from the tetraploid Avena insularis . Species of Avena can hybridize , and genes introgressed (brought in) from other "A" genome species have contributed many valuable traits, like resistance to oat crown rust . Pc98 is one such trait, introgressed from A. sterilis CAV 1979 , conferring all stage resistance (ASR) against Pca . It is possible to hybridize oats with grasses in other genera, allowing plant breeders
2088-562: The Poaceae are used as building materials ( bamboo , thatch , and straw ); others can provide a source of biofuel , primarily via the conversion of maize to ethanol . Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath. The leaf grows from the base of the blade, an adaptation allowing it to cope with frequent grazing. Grasslands such as savannah and prairie where grasses are dominant are estimated to constitute 40.5% of
2146-442: The base, called glumes , followed by one or more florets. A floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma —and one internal—the palea . The flowers are usually hermaphroditic — maize being an important exception—and mainly anemophilous or wind-pollinated, although insects occasionally play a role. The perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules , that expand and contract to spread
2204-450: The caterpillars of many brown butterflies . Grasses are also eaten by omnivorous or even occasionally by primarily carnivorous animals. Grasses dominate certain biomes , especially temperate grasslands , because many species are adapted to grazing and fire. Grasses are unusual in that the meristem is near the bottom of the plant; hence, grasses can quickly recover from cropping at the top. The evolution of large grazing animals in
2262-830: The erosional impact of urban storm water runoff. Pollen morphology, particularly in the Poaceae family, is key to figuring out their evolutionary relationships and how environments have changed over time . Grass pollen grains, however, often look the same, making it hard to use them for detailed climate or environmental reconstructions. Grass pollen has a single pore and can vary a lot in size, from about 20 to over 100 micrometers, and this size difference has been looked into for clues about past habitats, to tell apart domesticated grasses from wild ones, and to indicate various biological features like how they perform photosynthesis , their breeding systems, and genetic complexity. Yet, there's ongoing debate about how effective pollen size
2320-469: The full list of Poaceae genera . The grass family is one of the most widely distributed and abundant groups of plants on Earth . Grasses are found on every continent, including Antarctica . The Antarctic hair grass, Deschampsia antarctica is one of only two plant species native to the western Antarctic Peninsula . Grasses are the dominant vegetation in many habitats, including grassland , salt-marsh , reedswamp and steppes . They also occur as
2378-517: The grain is a caryopsis , as the wall of the fruit is fused on to the actual seed. Like other cereal grains, the caryopsis contains the outer husk or bran , the starchy food store or endosperm which occupies most of the seed, and the protein-rich germ which if planted in soil can grow into a new plant. Oats are annual plants best grown in temperate regions. They tolerate cold winters less well than wheat, rye , or barley; they are harmed by sustained cold below −7 °C (20 °F). They have
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2436-478: The grains of grasses such as wheat , rice, maize (corn) and barley have been the most important human food crops . Grasses are also used in the manufacture of thatch , paper , fuel , clothing , insulation , timber for fencing , furniture , scaffolding and construction materials, floor matting , sports turf and baskets . Of all crops grown, 70% are grasses. Agricultural grasses grown for their edible seeds are called cereals or grains (although
2494-513: The idioms "sowing one's (wild) oats", meaning having many sexual partners in one's youth, and "getting your oats", meaning having sex regularly. Poaceae Gramineae Juss. Poaceae ( / p oʊ ˈ eɪ s i . iː , - s i aɪ / poh- AY -see-e(y)e ), also called Gramineae ( / ɡ r ə ˈ m ɪ n i . iː , - n i aɪ / grə- MIN -ee-e(y)e ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses . It includes
2552-459: The land area of the Earth , excluding Greenland and Antarctica . Grasses are also an important part of the vegetation in many other habitats, including wetlands , forests and tundra . Though they are commonly called "grasses", groups such as the seagrasses , rushes and sedges fall outside this family. The rushes and sedges are related to the Poaceae, being members of the order Poales , but
2610-453: The latest Cretaceous ( Maastrichtian ) aged Lameta Formation of India have pushed this date back to 66 million years ago. In 2011, fossils from the same deposit were found to belong to the modern rice tribe Oryzeae , suggesting substantial diversification of major lineages by this time. In 2018, a study described grass microfossils extracted from the teeth of the hadrosauroid dinosaur Equijubus normani from northern China, dating to
2668-615: The latter term, when used agriculturally, refers to both cereals and similar seeds of other plant species, such as buckwheat and legumes ). Three cereals—rice, wheat, and maize (corn)—provide more than half of all calories consumed by humans. Cereals constitute the major source of carbohydrates for humans and perhaps the major source of protein; these include rice (in southern and eastern Asia ), maize (in Central and South America ), and wheat and barley (in Europe , northern Asia and
2726-463: The leaves are attached. Grass leaves are nearly always alternate and distichous (in one plane), and have parallel veins. Each leaf is differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem and a blade with entire (i.e., smooth) margins. The leaf blades of many grasses are hardened with silica phytoliths , which discourage grazing animals; some, such as sword grass , are sharp enough to cut human skin. A membranous appendage or fringe of hairs called
2784-469: The lemma and palea; these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. The fruit of grasses is a caryopsis , in which the seed coat is fused to the fruit wall. A tiller is a leafy shoot other than the first shoot produced from the seed. Grass blades grow at the base of the blade and not from elongated stem tips. This low growth point evolved in response to grazing animals and allows grasses to be grazed or mown regularly without severe damage to
2842-530: The oat milk market became the second-largest among plant milks in the United States, following almond milk , but exceeding the sales of soy milk . As a mainstay of West Wales for centuries, until changes in farming practices in the 1960s, oats were used in many traditional Welsh dishes , including laverbread , a Welsh breakfast , and " cockles and eggs" served with oatbread. In Britain, oats are sometimes used for brewing beer, such as oatmeal stout where
2900-400: The plant. Three general classifications of growth habit present in grasses: bunch-type (also called caespitose), stoloniferous , and rhizomatous . The success of the grasses lies in part in their morphology and growth processes and in part in their physiological diversity. There are both C3 and C4 grasses, referring to the photosynthetic pathway for carbon fixation. The C4 grasses have
2958-438: The ready introgression of traits. In contrast to wheat , oats sometimes retain chromosomes from maize or pearl millet after such crosses. These wide crosses are typically made to generate doubled haploid breeding material; the rapid loss of the alien chromosomes from the unrelated pollen donor results in a plant with only a single set of chromosomes (a haploid ). The addition lines with alien chromosomes can be used as
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#17328581705643016-622: The relatively short time span of about 4 million years. According to Lester Charles King , the spread of grasses in the Late Cenozoic would have changed patterns of hillslope evolution favouring slopes that are convex upslope and concave downslope and lacking a free face were common. King argued that this was the result of more slowly acting surface wash caused by carpets of grass which in turn would have resulted in relatively more soil creep . There are about 12,000 grass species in about 771 genera that are classified into 12 subfamilies. See
3074-412: The seagrasses are members of the order Alismatales . However, all of them belong to the monocot group of plants. Grasses may be annual or perennial herbs , generally with the following characteristics (the image gallery can be used for reference): The stems of grasses, called culms , are usually cylindrical (more rarely flattened, but not 3-angled) and are hollow, plugged at the nodes , where
3132-692: The sets are dubbed A, B, C, and D. The diploid species are the CC A. ventricosa , the AA A. canariensis , and the AA A. longiglumis , along with two tetraploid oats (each with four sets), namely the AACC A. insularis and the AABB A. agadiriana . Tetraploids were formed as much as 10.6 mya , and hexaploids as much as 7.4 mya. Genomic study suggests that the hulled variety and the naked variety A. sativa var. nuda diverged around 51,200 years ago, long before domestication . This implies that
3190-438: The three subgenomes. These translocations may cause breeding barriers and incompatibilities when crossing varieties with different chromosomal architecture. Hence, oat breeding and the crossing of desired traits has been hampered by the lack of a reference genome assembly. In May 2022, a fully annotated reference genome sequence of Avena sativa was reported. The AA subgenome is presumed to be derived from Avena longiglumis and
3248-452: The total and Russia with 17% (table). This compares to over 100 million tonnes for wheat , for example. Global trade represents a modest percentage of production, less than 10%, most of the grain being consumed within producing countries. The main exporter is Canada, followed by Sweden and Finland; the US is the main importer. Oats futures are traded in US dollars in quantities of 5000 bushels on
3306-459: The tribe Poeae described in 1814 by Robert Brown , and the type genus Poa described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus . The term is derived from the Ancient Greek πόα (póa, "fodder") . Grasses include some of the most versatile plant life-forms . They became widespread toward the end of the Cretaceous period, and fossilized dinosaur dung ( coprolites ) have been found containing phytoliths of
3364-453: The two varieties were domesticated independently. Oats are thought to have emerged as a secondary crop . This means that they are derived from what was considered a weed of the primary cereal domesticates such as wheat. They survived as a Vavilovian mimic by having grains that Neolithic people found hard to distinguish from the primary crop. Oats were cultivated for some thousands of years before they were domesticated. A granary from
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