Lipid content and fatty acid profile of various European and Canadian hulled and naked oat genotypes

Abstract

Oat is considered the cereal of the future, presenting unique lipid composition in relation to that of other cereals. As the genotype factor could affect fatty acid composition of oat lipids this study evaluated the lipid content and fatty acid composition of 31 oat genotypes from various countries in Europe and 7 genotypes from Canada as representatives of two different continents and major oat producers. The lipid content of the Canadian oat genotype was 2.9%–6.29%, whereas that of the European one was 3.52%–9.51%. In Canadian oats, the dominant fatty acids were linoleic (36.76%), oleic (36.50%), and palmitic acids (18.57%) whereas, in European oats, the content of linoleic (37.25%), oleic (35.67%) and palmitic acid (18.64%) in average. Among the three major fatty acids, significant differences were mostly found in oleic acid rather than in palmitic and linoleic acids. Lidia (Swedish genotype), Ivore, and Dakar (French genotype) oats contained the highest quantities of palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids, respectively. No significant differences were observed in the total quantity of saturated fatty acids. Conversely, significant differences were observed in the monounsaturated fatty acids for the majority of the cases. This study has demonstrated the effect of genotypes on lipid content and the fatty acid composition in oats, regardless they were grown within one season under same climatic conditions.