Oats | |
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Common wild oat ( Avena fatua ) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Poales |
Family: | Poaceae |
Subfamily: | Pooideae |
Supertribe: | Poodae |
Tribe: | Poeae |
Subtribe: | Aveninae |
Genus: | Avena L. 1753 not Scop. 1777 nor Thell. 1911 [1] [2] |
Type species | |
Avena sativa | |
Synonyms [4] | |
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Avena is a genus of Eurasian and African plants [5] in the grass family. Collectively known as the oats, they include some species which have been cultivated for thousands of years as a food source for humans and livestock. [6] They are widespread throughout Europe, Asia and northwest Africa. Several species have become naturalized in many parts of the world, and are regarded as invasive weeds where they compete with crop production. All oats have edible seeds, though they are small and hard to harvest in most species. [7] [8]
Avena species, including cultivated oats, are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including rustic shoulder-knot and setaceous Hebrew character.
For diseases of oats, see List of oat diseases.
One species is of major commercial importance as a cereal grain. Four other species are grown as crops of minor or regional importance. [4] [9]
Several species of Avena occur in the wild, sometimes as weeds in agricultural fields. They are known as wild oats or oat-grasses. Those growing alongside cultivated oats in agricultural fields are considered nuisance weeds, as, being grasses like the crop, they are difficult to remove chemically; any standard herbicide that would kill them would also damage the crop. A specific herbicide must be used. The costs of this herbicide and the length of time it must be used to reduce the weed are significant, with seeds able to lie dormant for up to 10 years. [4] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Hundreds of taxa have been included in Avena at one time in the past but are now considered better suited to other genera: [4] Agrostis , Aira , Ampelodesmos , Anisopogon , Arrhenatherum , Avenula , Bromus , Calamagrostis , Capeochloa , Centropodia , Corynephorus , Danthonia , Danthoniastrum , Deschampsia , Festuca , Gaudinia , Helictochloa , Helictotrichon , Hierochloe , Lachnagrostis , Lolium , Parapholis , Pentameris , Periballia , Peyritschia , Rytidosperma , Schizachne , Sphenopholis , Stipa , Stipagrostis , Tenaxia , Tricholemma , Triraphis , Trisetaria , Trisetum , Tristachya and Ventenata .
"Sowing wild oats" is a phrase used since at least the 16th century; it appears in a 1542 tract by Thomas Beccon, a Protestant clergyman from Norfolk. Apparently, a similar expression was used in Roman Republican times[ clarification needed ], possibly by Plautus. The origin of the expression is the fact that wild oats, notably A. fatua, are a major weed in oat farming. Among European cereal grains, oats are hardest to tell apart from their weedy relatives, which look almost alike but yield little grain. The life cycle of A. fatua is nearly synchronous with that of common oat, and their relationship is an example of Vavilovian mimicry. Historically, growers could control the weed only by checking the crop plants one by one and hand-weeding. Consequently, "sowing wild oats" became a phrase to describe unprofitable activities. Given the reputation of oat grain to have invigorating properties and the obvious connection between plant seeds and human "seed", it is not surprising that the meaning of the phrase became a reference to the liaisons of an unmarried young male, which result in unwanted children born out of wedlock. [15]
Finger millet is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species probably evolved from its wild relative Eleusine africana.
The oat, sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name. 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.
Sorghum or broomcorn is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Sorghum bicolor is grown as a cereal for human consumption and as animal fodder.
Teff, also known as Eragrostis tef, Williams lovegrass, or annual bunch grass, is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to Ethiopia, where it first originated in the Ethiopian Highlands. It is cultivated for its edible seeds, also known as teff. Teff was one of the earliest plants domesticated. It is one of the most important staple crops in Ethiopia.
Arrhenatherum, commonly called oat-grass or button-grass, is a genus of Eurasian and North African plants in the grass family.
Lolium is a genus of tufted grasses in the bluegrass subfamily (Pooideae). It is often called ryegrass, but this term is sometimes used to refer to grasses in other genera.
Pennisetum is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. They are known commonly as fountaingrasses. Pennisetum is considered a synonym of Cenchrus in Kew's Plants of the World Online.
Avena sterilis is a species of grass weed whose seeds are edible. Many common names of this plant refer to the movement of its panicle in the wind.
In plant biology and agriculture, Vavilovian mimicry is a form of mimicry in plants where a weed evolves to share characteristics with a crop plant through generations of involuntary artificial selection. It is named after the Russian plant geneticist Nikolai Vavilov.
Wild Oats or wild oat may refer to:
Avena fatua is a species of grass in the oat genus. It is known as the common wild oat. This oat is native to Eurasia but it has been introduced to most of the other temperate regions of the world. It is naturalized in some areas and considered a noxious weed in others.
Avena strigosa is a species of grass native to Europe. It has edible seeds and is often cultivated as animal feed in southern Brazil. It is sometimes reported as a weed.
Avena nuda is a species of grass with edible seeds in the oat genus Avena.
Avena brevis, the short oat, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae whose seeds are edible.
An archaeophyte is a plant species which is non-native to a geographical region, but which was an introduced species in "ancient" times, rather than being a modern introduction. Those arriving after are called neophytes.
Bromus hordeaceus, the soft brome, is an annual or biennial species of grass in the grass family (Poaceae). It is also known in North America as bull grass, soft cheat, and soft chess.
A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals. Plants with characteristics that make them hazardous, aesthetically unappealing, difficult to control in managed environments, or otherwise unwanted in farm land, orchards, gardens, lawns, parks, recreational spaces, residential and industrial areas, may all be considered weeds. The concept of weeds is particularly significant in agriculture, where the presence of weeds in fields used to grow crops may cause major losses in yields. Invasive species, plants introduced to an environment where their presence negatively impacts the overall functioning and biodiversity of the ecosystem, may also sometimes be considered weeds.
Pre-harvest crop desiccation is the application of an agent to a crop just before harvest to kill the leaves and/or plants so that the crop dries out from environmental conditions, or "dry-down", more quickly and evenly. Crop desiccants include herbicides and defoliants, used to accelerate the natural drying of plant tissues. Desiccation of crops through the use of herbicides is practiced worldwide on a variety of food and non-food crops.
Lolium rigidum is a species of annual grass. Common names by which it is known include annual ryegrass, a name also given to Italian ryegrass, rigid ryegrass, stiff darnel, Swiss ryegrass and Wimmera ryegrass. It is a native of southern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent and is grown as a forage crop, particularly in Australia, where it is also a serious and economically damaging crop weed.
Urochloa deflexa, commonly known as Guinea millet, is an annual millet grass belonging to the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to many regions such as Africa, India, and Pakistan in both tropical and subtropical regions. It has been used as a supplemental food source among other cereal crops.