Difference Between Oats and Wheat

1. Basic Introduction

Wheat: It is a general term for plants of the genus Triticeae. It has a long history of cultivation and is widely distributed. Its caryopsis is one of the staple foods of humans. After being ground into flour, it can be made into bread, steamed buns and other foods, and can also be made into beer, white wine, etc. It is one of the three major grains, and almost the entire plant can be eaten.

Oats: It is an ancient crop and a cereal crop, one of the eight major grain crops. It belongs to the Poaceae family, Avena family, and Avena genus. It is an important food widely grown all over the world. It can also be used as a feed crop. It is drought-resistant, cold-resistant, and can tolerate barrenness. It also has high nutritional value and certain medical effects.

2. The difference between the two

Plant differences: Wheat stems are upright, clumped, sixty to one hundred centimeters in height and five to seven millimeters in diameter. The sheath of its leaves is loosely wrapped around the stem, the ligule is membranous, about one millimeter long, and the leaf blade is long lanceolate. The stems of oats are upright and smooth, the leaf sheaths are also smooth, with fine hairs on the back, the ligules are relatively large, there are no auricles, and the leaves are flat.

Flower difference: The inflorescence of wheat is upright in spike shape, about five to ten centimeters long and about one to one and a half centimeters wide. The spikelet contains three to nine flowers. The flowers of oats are in cone-shaped inflorescences with drooping or upright spikes. The inflorescence is terminal and each spikelet contains two or more florets.

Fruit difference: The fruit of wheat is a caryopsis, the skin is yellow-brown, the shape is oblate or oval, the two ends of the fruit are slightly pointed or blunt, and there are starch granules inside. The fruit powder is white, interspersed with small pieces of yellow-brown peel. The caryopsis of oats is broad, grassy in texture, with hard and hairless lemmas, some with awns and some without. The abdomen of its caryopsis has longitudinal grooves and is covered with sparse hairs. When it matures, the palea and lemma tightly wrap the grains, making it difficult to separate them.