Oil-rich oat grains in prospect

Oat is unique among the cereals in storing high amount of oil in the grains and thus is a potential alternative crop to oil-seed rape as a renewable substitute for fossil oil.

Researchers at SLU in Alnarp have been examining the possibility of modifying the distribution of energy storage in the oat grain to increase the concentration of oil to give oil yields comparable to that of rape seeds. Oats were chosen because there are already varieties containing high levels of oil – up to 18 per cent of the grain by weight.

This bodes well for the prospects of using plant breeding and genetic engineering to create varieties possessing the desired properties. It was found that an elevated level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, expected to occur in the future, did not increase the oil concentration in the oat grain.