Tassel removal positively affects biomass production coupled with significantly increasing stem digestibility in switchgrass

Chunqiao Zhao; Xifeng Fan; Xincun Hou; Yi Zhu; Yuesen Yue; Shuang Zhang; Juying Wu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0120845

Tassel removal positively affects biomass production coupled with significantly increasing stem digestibility in switchgrass

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 7;10(4):e0120845. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120845. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Chunqiao Zhao¹, Xifeng Fan², Xincun Hou², Yi Zhu², Yuesen Yue², Shuang Zhang², Juying Wu²

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Research and Development Center for Grass and Environment, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China; College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
² Beijing Research and Development Center for Grass and Environment, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China.

Abstract

In this study, tassels of Cave-in-Rock (upland) and Alamo (lowland) were removed at or near tassel emergence to explore its effects on biomass production and quality. Tassel-removed (TR) Cave-in-Rock and Alamo both exhibited a significant (P<0.05) increase in plant heights (not including tassel length), tiller number, and aboveground biomass dry weight (10% and 12%, 30% and 13%, 13% and 18%, respectively by variety) compared to a control (CK) treatment. Notably, total sugar yields of TR Cave-in-Rock and Alamo stems increased significantly (P<0.05 or 0.01) by 19% and 19%, 21% and 14%, 52% and 18%, respectively by variety, compared to those of control switchgrass under 3 treatments by direct enzymatic hydrolysis (DEH), enzymatic hydrolysis after 1% NaOH pretreatment (EHAL) and enzymatic hydrolysis after 1% H2SO4 pretreatment (EHAC). These differences were mainly due to significantly (P<0.05 or 0.01) higher cellulose content, lower cellulose crystallinity indexes (CrI) caused by higher arabinose (Ara) substitution in xylans, and lower S/G ratio in lignin. However, the increases of nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) concentration negatively affects the combustion quality of switchgrass aboveground biomass. This work provides information for increasing biomass production and quality in switchgrass and also facilitates the inhibition of gene dispersal of switchgrass in China.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biomass*
Biotechnology
Cell Wall / chemistry*
Cellulose / metabolism
Panicum / chemistry*
Panicum / growth & development
Panicum / metabolism
Plant Leaves / cytology
Plant Leaves / metabolism
Plant Stems / cytology
Plant Stems / metabolism*

Substances

Cellulose

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by grants from Beijing Nova Program (Z131105000413020), youth scientific research funds of Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (QNJJ201219), and youth scientific research funds of Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (QNJJ201316). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.