Oat ( <i>Avena sativa</i> ) Kernel Hullability Is Associated With Seed Health: Linking Morphological, Calorimetric, and Volatile Markers

ABSTRACT Background and Objectives The ease of hulling an oat genotype and the length of time the intact and hulled seeds can be stored viably without deteriorating quality has always been of interest to industry and farmers. We evaluated the hulling traits of different genotypes under varying growing conditions in 2018 and 2020, linking this to seed morphological and physiological features. Findings We found that inhullability, seed viability and formed oxidized products varied among the genotypes as well as the environmental conditions. The oat cultivars (Symphony, Kyron, and Delfin) presented higher hullability in 2020, whereas Fatima and Morrison from the same year, all of the tested genotypes from 2018, and the later seeds sown in 2020 presented higher inhullability. Two sets of seeds representing high and low hullability were further analyzed to test the hypothesis that hullability is associated with seed health using isothermal calorimetry, morphological observations, and volatile fingerprinting. Seed quality, in terms of viability, decreased in seeds with higher inhullability and in seeds stored without hulls when compared to seeds with hulls. Conclusions Seed viability is associated with kernel hullability, while the accumulated total volatiles, hexanal, pentanal, and pentadecane contents are associated with higher inhullability and lower seed viability.