As free radicals have been widely indicated as the major cause
of seed deterioration (Lehner et al., 2008), the genotypes with
higher antioxidant capacity may be more likely to be preserved
during storage and processing. Other authors have previously
shown that processed oat products were more stable when the
oat genotype contained higher antioxidant levels (Peterson,
2001). Antioxidants have also been shown to act as a preservative
when added to various foodstuffs. This is the case not only for pure
antioxidants but also for extracted antioxidants; oat hull extract,
for example, can inhibit fungal and bacterial growth (Peterson,
2001). Therefore, grains with inherent antioxidants may have more
potential to protect themselves in storage. This is in accordance
with the results of a previous study of stored wheat, which showed
a negative correlation between the efficiency of the antioxidant
enzymatic machinery and the age of grain (Lehner et al., 2008;
Spano et al., 2011). Possible future research could be aimed at
investigating the relationship between high antioxidant genotypes
and their shelf life during storage.