Cereal Chem 49:407 - 411.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Protein Distribution in the Oat Kernel.

V. L. Youngs. Copyright 1972 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Five cultivars and two experimental lines of Avena sativa (common oats) with a wide range of protein were studied. Percent groats, groat and hull protein, and 1,000 kernel weight and bran thickness of the groats were measured. Groats from each variety were hand-dissected into the embryonic axis, scutellum, bran (aleurone layer included), and starchy endosperm. The embryonic axis accounted for 1.1 to 1.4% of the total groat weight; scutellum, 1.6 to 2.6%; bran, 28.7 to 41.4%; and endosperm, 55.8 to 68.3%. The endosperm weights varied inversely, and the bran weights directly, with the groat protein concentrations. Analysis of each groat fraction for protein showed the greatest concentration in the embryonic axis, with a range of 26.3 to 44.3%; scutellum next, 24.2 to 32.4%; followed by the bran, 18.5 to 32.5%; and endosperm, 9.6 to 17.0%. Both the bran and endosperm protein concentrations increased as the total groat protein increased. Since most of the groat weight is in the bran and endosperm, these fractions contained the greatest part of the total groat protein. However, groats with higher protein generally contained a greater amount of bran protein rather than endosperm protein. Bran thickness was measured on 12 different varieties (range 0.058 to 0.101 mm.), and varied directly with groat protein.