Italy
 
Oat Production and Cultivars in Italy
 
Marco Baldanzi
 
Università degli Studi di Pisa
Dipartimento di Agronomia e Gestione dell'Agro-Ecosistema
Via San Michele degli Scalzi 2 - I 56124 Pisa
 
Oat is grown in Central and South Italy (winter red oats); most of the oat grown in Central regions is harvested for grain while in the Southern regions pasture and forage use are predominant. Oat is scarsely grown in North Italy (white spring oats), for forage use as a companion crop. Oat grain is principally fed to race-horses and saddle-horses, a coming up fashion hobby in recent years. Oat for pasture and forage is common for sheep. Recently food use of oat grain has begun to increase mainly in breakfast food, snack product, or bran form.
   
1980-85 1986-91 1992-93 1980-85 1986-91 1992-93
Regions ---------- 1000 ha ---------- ---------- t/ha ----------
Basilicata 43.9 33.2 16.7 1.81 2.05 2.47
Campaniea 12.9 13.6 13.4 2.04 2.42 2.59
Puglia 47.6 31.4 29.1 1.79 1.86 2.44
Sardegna 21.1 23.5 28.5 1.62 1.60 2.13
Toscana 19.3 16.8 14.8 2.14 2.65 2.78
Italy Total 208.5 167.0 142.0 1.89 2.10 2.44
 

Italian cultivars (year of release)

Red oats: Angelica (1969), Argentina (1969), Astra (1969), Ava (1969), Rogar 8 (1969), Ombrone (1972). White oats: Lidia (1982), Sonar (1987).

One problem is that the certified seed represents only about 10 percent of the total oat seed used by the farmers for sowing, discouraging public and private breeders to develope new cultivars.
 

 
Year Ha (Ha)
1980 2167 Argentina (562), *Condor (348), *Sole II (279)
1981 2370 Argentina (517), Condor (446), Sole II (387)
1982 1865 Argentina (582), Condor (300), Rogar 8 (287)
1983 1588 Argentina (606), Condor (236), Angelica (78)
1984 1727 Argentian(537), *Perona (258), Sole II (177)
1985 1402 Argentina (503), Perona (294), Angelica (155)
1986 1222 Argentina (634), Perona (299), Condor (132)
1987 1022 Perona (188), Argentina (169), Ava (146)
1988 808 Perona (217), Argentina (197), Rogar 8 (101)
1989 1005 Perona (269), Rogar 8 (217), Ombrone (114)
1990 1197 Argentina (314), Perona (222), Rogar 8 (172)
1991 507 Perona (146), Argentina (127), Rogar 8 (109)
1992 683 Perona (209), Rogar 8 (208), Argentina (120)
1993 612 Rogar 8 (191), Argentina (137), Perona (89)
1994 587 Argentina (224), *Manoire (110), Perona (92)
1995 628 Argentina (241), Ava (154), Perona (96)
1996 734 Argentina (303), Perona (95), *Tropicale (75)
  Beside our Department there is only one other public institution involved in oat research and oat improvement. This is: Istituto Sperimentale di Cerealicoltura Via Vittorio Veneto, 274 - 45021 Badia Polesine - Italy
 


 

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