ABSTRACT
A probable chain of events that led to the development of modern cultivated oats was developed by Coffman [1]. The exact sequence of events that resulted in development of cultivated oats will likely remain a mystery. The Asia Minor region is generally accepted as the place of origin of the wild hexaploid oat species, Avena sterilis L. and A. fatua L., which are believed to be the progenitors of cultivated oats [1–4]. Early investigators [5] assumed that A. fatua was the wild progenitor of cultivated hexaploid oats. Coffman [3] presented evidence suggesting that A. sterilis is more likely to be the true progenitor. The issue still remains the subject of conjecture, and Ladizinsky [6] suggested that cultivated hexaploid oats originated as a secondary crop from the weedy form of A. fatua during the late Bronze and Iron Ages in central and western Europe.
