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The oat ( Avena sativa), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of Cereal 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 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 a green manure.
At the top of the stem, the plant branches into a loose cluster or panicle of . These contain the wind-pollinated flowers, which mature into the oat seeds or grains. Botanically 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 Cereal germ which if planted in soil can grow into a new plant. (2025). 9780857094131, Elsevier. ISBN 9780857094131
Analysis of maternal lineages of 25 Avena species using chloroplast DNA and mitochondrial DNA showed that A. sativa hexaploid genome derives from three diploid oat species (each with two sets of chromosomes); 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 myr, and hexaploids as much as 7.4 mya.
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 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.
Oat seed dispersal is facilitated by two awns that are part of each seed head. After falling to the ground, these long, slender structures twist as they dry in sun and as they are re-moistened by dew and rain. As a result, the seeds moved along the ground until falling into gaps in the soil, essentially planting themselves. Domestication has selected for loss of awns, since seeds are now planted by humans, and larger seeds.
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. Traditionally, US farmers grew oats alongside red clover and alfalfa, which fixed nitrogen and provided animal forage. With less use of horses and more use of fertilizers, growth of these crops in the US declined. For example, the state of Iowa led US oat production until 1989, but has largely switched to maize and soybeans.
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). (2025). 9781461495710, Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN 9781461495710
Crown rust infection can greatly reduce photosynthesis and overall physiological activities of oat leaves, thereby reducing growth and crop yield.
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.
| + Oats production – 2022 (Millions of ) | |
| 5.2 | |
| 4.5 | |
| 1.7 | |
| 1.5 | |
| 1.3 | |
| 1.2 | |
| 1.1 | |
| 26.4 | |
| Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations | |
In 2022, global production of oats was 26 million tonnes, led by Canada with 20% of 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 exchange are traded in US dollars in quantities of 5000 bushels on the Chicago Board of Trade and have delivery dates in March, May, July, September, and December.
It is possible to hybridize oats with grasses in other genera, allowing plant breeders 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). (2025). 9781493966806, Springer. ISBN 9781493966806
The addition lines with alien chromosomes can be used as 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 is not considered a GMO technique.
A 2013 study applied simple sequence repeat and found five major groupings, namely commercial and four landrace groups.
In response to the 1980s oat bran fad in the United States (described below), the Food and Drug Administration adopted a rule in 1997 that requires at least 0.75 grams of soluble fiber per serving in any product that bears a health claim associating its oat content with a reduced risk of heart disease.
In Britain, oats are sometimes used for brewing beer, such as oatmeal stout where 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.
The United States saw a surge in consumption of oats in the late 1980s, after the Quaker Oats Company began to promote its products as having cholesterol-reducing benefits on the basis of a 1986 study. This "oat bran fad" lasted until 1990, when newer studies cast doubt on the earlier findings.
"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 the idioms "sowing one's (wild) oats", meaning having many sexual partners in one's youth, and "getting your oats", meaning having sex regularly.
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