This research was aimed to determine the chemical characteristics of the new oat cultivar UPF 18, which became recommended by the Brazilian Oat Research Committee in 1999. Oat grains from the 1999 cropping season were dehulled, the caryopses ground to a granulometry below 0.250mm, and the resulting flour evaluated regarding its composition, amount of amino and fatty acids, index of solubility in nitrogen, in vitro protein digestibility, chemical score, and metabolizing energy. The cultivar UPF 18 presented a high protein content (15.07%). The levels of soluble (5.59%) and insoluble (7.73%) dietary fiber were also high, making the amount o starch low (41%). The amino acid composition was similar to the FAO theoretic standard in most of the amino acids, where lysine was the first limiting. This cultivar also showed high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, with linoleic, oleic, and palmitic acids representing 96.06% of the total. The in vitro protein digestibility reached 98.86%, the chemical score 52.2%, and the metabolizing energy 326.56 kcal/100g.
Oats; chemical characterization; fat acids; amino acids
