Oats were one of the first cereals cultivated by man. They were to be found growing in ancient China as long ago as 7000 BC while the Greeks are believed to be the first to make porridge from oats.
Oats were known to the Romans and Greeks, but there is no evidence that they cultivated this grain. Oats were used, however, by the ancient people north of the Roman empire in what is now Switzerland, France and Germany.
The oats is a hardy plant especially well adapted for temperate climates. It yields a nutritious gain, besides straw that is held to be worth rather more as fodder than the straw of most other cereals.
Today there are many varieties of oats which have evolved from the original Asian wild grass (Avena Fatua). The best quality oats grow where there is light fertile soil, where the climate is temperate and there is a rainfall of over 60cm (24") a year.
In the USA, oat is the most popular cool season forage in the Northern Great Plains, i.e., North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana.
The cultivation of oats is traditionally associated with dairying, particularly in Minnesota and Wisconsin, providing good straw and silage.
Oat grains are sown in the winter and ripened in the fields by the summer sun. The oats are then harvested when fully ripe in the autumn.
In the corn belt area, oats are chiefly used as a additional fodder.
In United Kingdom, oats also used to make bread and sometimes for malting as well. Their main purpose was to make oatmeal concoctions, such as pottage, hasty pudding, gruel, washbrew, and gertbrew, which provided starch in the diet in more varied forms than oat bread and oat cake.
Oat grain has an average protein content of 11.5 percent compared with 12.5-13 percent for barley.
The cultivation of oats
