Milling characteristics and distribution of phytic acid, minerals, and some nutrients in oat (Avena sativa L.)

Abstract

The effect of milling degree in three oat cultivars was determined to illustrate the milling characteristics as well as the distribution of phytic acid and some nutritional components in oats. According to the results, to obtain the same milling degree (12%), Baiyan2 (naked oat) required the longest milling (60 s), while Linna (hulled oat) and Bayou1 (naked oat) required shorter milling of 50 s. The milling process could effectively decrease the level of phytic acid, whose distribution was found to be uneven and highly concentrated in the oat bran (27%–53% phytic acid). As for the content of phytic acid in oat, Bayou1 showed a much higher value (52.92 ± 10.27%) in oat bran than Baiyan2 (31.38 ± 0.31%) and Linna (27.81 ± 4.62%). Generally, it took 50–60 s to remove oat bran by milling, which resulted in a 19.7% decrease in hardness of cooked oat. Besides, for naked oat Baiyan2, the marked decline of iron and lipid as well as the constant levels of calcium, zinc, protein, starch and β-glucan was also detected during the milling process.