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BYU: Research could lead to more nutritious, productive and sustainable oats
Oats are a highly nutritious cereal crop with well-documented health benefits. They contain compounds that help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of metabolic diseases, and they are less likely to trigger allergies — making oat-based foods increasingly popular as alternatives to dairy and wheat products. With improved breeding, future oat varieties could become even more nutritious, productive and sustainable. But for years now, oat breeders have been uncertain why progress in improving yield and quality has been slower than in other major crops. Turns out the oat’s exceptionally large and complex genome has been a major factor limiting that progress. Brigham Young University plant and wildlife professors Rick Jellen and Jeff Maughan, together with an international consortium of researchers, have taken a major step toward unraveling this complexity. Their new research ...
