Genotypic and environmental effects on oat milling characteristics and great hardness

The production of oat bran involves the dehulling of oats, inactivation of their enzymes, and the subsequent grinding and sieving of the clean greats to isolate the larger bran particles. The bran yield from the oat greats ma y be related to their hardness, as it is in wheat. Great breakage, which oc curs during the dehulling process, reduces milling yield and may also be re lated to great hardness. This study sought to investigate genotypic and env ironmental effects on oat dry milling and oat dehulling characteristics, an d attempted to define properties associated with oat great hardness. Signif icant genotypic differences in bran yield were largely attributed to great composition, where higher beta-glucan and oil concentrations in the great w ere associated with higher bran yields. Bran composition was largely depend ent on a combination of the bran yield and the great composition. Although great breakage was correlated with bran yield and with great beta-glucan co ncentration, environmental factors appeared to be more influential, Locatio ns that had suffered severe crown rust infestations exhibited higher rates of great breakage during dehulling. Bran yield was not as strongly affected at the locations infested with crown rust, indicating that bran yield and great breakage are manifestations of different types of groat hardness and are only partially related.