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Malting Oats: Effects on Chemical Composition of Hull-less and Hulled Genotypes

¹Cereal Crops Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 501 Walnut St., Madison WI 53705. Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mention of trademark or proprietary products does not constitute a guarantee or warranty by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and does not imply its approval to the exclusion of other products that may also be suitable. E-mail: dmpeter4@facstaff.wisc.edu

Samples of hull-less oat genotypes from the Cooperative Naked Oat Test grown in Ottawa, ON, and Aberdeen, ID, were analyzed for their potential as a food malt. Malted oats had a lower concentration of petroleum ether-extractable lipid, but a much higher percentage of the lipid was in the form of free fatty acids. About 5% less starch and slightly more N was found in malted oats than in unmalted. Malted oats contained ≈8% soluble carbohydrate. During the germination phase of malting, nearly all the β-glucan was degraded. α-Amylase activity of malted oats approached that of malting barleys, but diastatic power was much lower. Groats of hulled cultivars grown at Madison, WI, were malted and analyzed with similar results. Because the increased levels of free fatty acids in the malted grains may lead to the development of rancid flavors, a method to curtail their increase or selections of genotypes with a minimum increase during malting may be necessary to produce a useful malted food product.