Vernon D. Burrows (Retired), Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
OATS: Chemistry and Technology, Second Edition
Pages 31-50
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/9781891127649.003
ISBN: 978-1-891127-64-9
Abstract
During the past 100 years, the acreage sown to covered-seeded oats (Avena sativa L.) has shown a steady decline. In fact, oats are now only a specialty rather than a major crop. This decline was caused by mechanization, which allowed the replacement of the workhorse on the farm. This transformation represented a huge market loss for the covered oat industry internationally because workhorses consumed millions of tonnes (t) of oats each year on the farms where they were produced. The decline was slowed by a growing demand for oats to feed an increased number of recreational horses, but this was offset by a decline in the use of covered oats to feed high-producing dairy cattle. The hull of a covered oat lowers the grain's nutrient density, and the cow cannot consume enough protein for maximum milk production before its satiety level is reached. Recently, there has been growing recognition that oat groats have excellent nutritional (and medicinal) properties for humans and domestic animals, but the resulting demand has not made up for the huge tonnages formerly consumed by the workhorse. Breeders tried to fight the downward trend in popularity of oats by breeding high-producing varieties, a strategy that lowered the total oat acreage because new varieties permitted more oats to be produced on fewer acres and freed land for other crops. The problem was not with the existing varieties but was from lowered market demand for the covered-seeded grain and from improvements in alternatives such as barley. Feed formulators could not use substantial quantities of covered oats in the diets of pigs and poultry because these animals are unable to tolerate the insoluble fiber contributed by oat hulls. Today, in many areas of the world, efficient diets for both nonruminant and ruminant animals are composed of corn (Zea mays L.) or barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) as a source of metabolizable energy and soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) meal and other leguminous crops as sources of high-quality protein.
One way for oats to regain some of the former acreage would be to diversify so that two types of oats are bred: covered-seeded oats to satisfy existing food markets and hulless oats to develop specialty markets. For example, if hulless oats were used for fermentation, the lack of hull would make distillers' grains from hulless oats higher in well-balanced protein and energy than distillers' grains from covered oats or corn. Major food and feed companies will continue to process covered oats because they are equipped to do so, but hulless oats present an opportunity for product development by other companies that recognize their value and that do not have to purchase expensive dehulling and sorting equipment.
Hulless oats have several advantages. The harvested groats occupy less storage space for farmers and processors; the hulls are returned to the soil at harvest to contribute to soil organic matter; the grain can be cleaned locally and only the best groats shipped to market; the groats can be stored safely on the farm until needed; shipping costs are significantly lower; dehulling and cleaning costs for sorting the groats, extraneous hulls, trichomes, and foreign materials usually are reduced; the disposal of low-value hulls after dehulling is avoided; and hulless oats can be used directly after cleaning to develop and service new feed, food, beverage, and nonfood niche markets. Examples of new or specialized feed such as for weaner pigs, poultry, racehorses, sheep, rabbits, and possibly even certain species of fish are discussed later, as are concepts for new food products such as “pure” oats for celiac patients.
This chapter emphasizes two points. First, no identified intrinsically new technological or functional characteristics distinguish a hulless from a covered-seeded oat. Second, as the agronomic deficiencies of the old hulless oat varieties and genetic stocks are overcome through breeding, the opportunity arises for a whole new roster of small-scale entrepreneurs to expand the markets for and uses of oats. The author believes that the large oat-milling companies will continue to serve the large, well-established markets and will explore only a small fraction of these newer opportunities. Hulless oats are an excellent raw material for smaller manufacturers located in areas where covered oats now command most of the oat acreage. In countries such as China, hulless oat production will likely expand to occupy large areas of saline soils of high pH (8.5–9.5) and areas in which water for rice production is scarce. The author also believes that, as time progresses, the combined nutritional and medicinal properties of oats will be recognized by increased numbers of people; more oats will be grown; and the specialty characteristics of hulless oats will have market appeal, leading to increased demand.
