Wild oat

Botanical classification

Family: Poaceae
Genus: Oats
Species: Avena sativa L .; Avena byzantina C. Koch. (Red oats)

Oats or "fodder" is grown as a grain cereal for animal consumption - it is also consumed by humans - but also as a fodder crop in the form of autumn-winter grass.
Oats have a more developed root system than other cereals in terms of depth and extension, and robust culms consisting of a number of nodes higher than that of other cereals. The inflorescence is a typical panniculus with numerous ramifications bearing spikelets with two or three flowers. The weight of 1,000 seeds is around 25-35 grams, that of the hectolitre about 40-60 kg. The nutritional value is quite low due to the considerable amount of fiber that covers the caryopsis.
Oats adapt well to cool and humid climates, they are susceptible to damage from heat and drought, especially during ripening.
Oats are very sensitive to cold, so almost all oats in the world are grown in spring sowing, with the exception of hot-arid climates where they are sown in autumn.

Worldwide, about 15 million hectares of oats are cultivated with a production of almost 26 million tons of grain: oats are in 7th place in the ranking of cereals, but with a general tendency to decrease.
In Western Europe, the area planted with oats has halved over the past 30 years. In Italy, the crop has almost disappeared in the north, while it is still present in Puglia, Basilicata, Lazio.
The regression of oats in Italy and beyond is due to the decrease in horse farms, to the lower productivity of oats in forage units compared to barley, to the limits of use of oats in balanced feed caused by the high content of grain cellulose.