OIL AND PROTEIN-CONTENT OF AVENA SPECIES COLLECTED IN NORTH-AFRICA, EAST-AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE-EAST

Field collections of A sterilis from 13 regions of Africa and the Middle East were increased in Canada. Groats from 251 collections were analyzed for oil and protein content and whole grains from 1316 collections were analyzed for protein content only. The Aegean-Mediterranean region of Turkey was the area of origin for samples with the highest oil content with levels of 8% being common. Israel, the Thrace-Marmara and the eastern regions of Turkey and the Caspian region of Iran were next highest. With few exceptions, the highest oil content samples originated in coastal areas. Collections with lowest oil content came from Iraq and the Interior region of Iran. Groat protein determinations indicated that collections with the highest protein content, over 28% in some samples, came from Iraq, southeastern Turkey and adjacent Syria. Iran apparently is a relatively low protein content area. The whole grain samples produced similar results with Iraq indicated as the highest protein content area, followed by the Black Sea and central regions of Turkey and Ethiopia. The whole kernel protein content of the A. byzantian group of collections was approximately equal to the highest protein content A. sterilis group, and A. abyssinica and A. vaviloviana exceeded the highest A. sterilis group in protein content.