Abstract: Changes in the content, and composition and antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds during oat germination were analyzed. The results showed that total phenol content in oat went up notably with the extension of germination, and oat buds and roots had higher total phenol content than oat grains, which resulted in a difference in antioxidant activity. Ungerminated oat seeds, 6-day germinated oat grains, 6-day germinated oat buds and 6-day germinated oat roots had strong reducing power, with EC50 (median effective concentration) of 86.47, 61.96, 98.54μg/mL and 51.98μg/mL, respectively, and strong abilities to scavenge DPPH free radicals, with IC50 (median inhibitory concentration) of 26.90, 15.43, 30.71μg/mL and 21.30μg/mL and nitrite, with IC50 of 0.653, 0.441, 1.353 mg/mL and 0.227 mg/mL. Therefore, germination is an effective method to elevate the utilization value of oat.

Key words: oat, germination, phonols, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), antioxidant activity