Oats

Abstract

The first records of cultivated oats can be traced to about 2000 BC or the Early Bronze Period. Botanists generally maintain that the origin of a species is most likely to be found in the area of the greatest progenitor diversity. Murphy and Hoffman (1992) characterized the region of greatest oat diversity as an area situated between 25 and 45{\textdegree}N lat. and 20{\textdegree}W and 90{\textdegree}E long., extending from the Canary Islands, throughout the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East, to the Himalayan mountains. The centres of origin of the various Avena spp. are unknown but are thought to be located within this geographic area. Unfortunately, precise information on the time, place and processes associated with oat domestication are lost to antiquity (Coffman, 1961).