Sucrose content, lignocellulose accumulation and in vitro digestibility of sugarcane internodes depicted in relation to internode maturation stage and Saccharum genotypes

• Published in: Industrial crops and products Vol. 139; p. 111543
• Main Authors: Collucci, Daniel, Bueno, Raphael C.A., Milagres, Adriane M.F., Ferraz, André
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-11-2019
• Subjects: Cellulases; Digestibility; Plant maturation; Recalcitrance; Sucrose accumulation; Sugarcane; Sucrose accumulation; Recalcitrance; Sugarcane; Plant maturation; Cellulases; Digestibility
• ISSN: 0926-6690; 1872-633X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2019.111543

•Some sugarcane hybrids combine high sucrose yields and low lignocellulose recalcitrance.•The internodes from the top to the base of the culm revealed progressive maturation stages.•Sugarcane digestibility decreases significantly with internode maturation.•Chemical composition conveys internode digestibility.•The initial levels of lignification are critical for internode recalcitrance.
Sugarcane hybrids acquired several characteristics through plant breeding, including high sucrose and lignocellulose production. Recently, biomass-based industries designed to produce high-value chemicals and fuels from whole plant biomass encouraged new breeding efforts to develop plants with high sucrose yields and low lignocellulose recalcitrance. The present study utilized four experimental sugarcane hybrids to evaluate the dynamics of sucrose and lignocellulose accumulation, lignocellulose composition, and enzymatic digestibility during internode development. During the internode maturation stages, the sucrose content increased while the lignocellulose fraction presented an increased lignin and decreased glucan content. Enzymatic digestibility and lignin content of the lignocellulose fraction displayed an inversely related pattern, and the first internode was two-fold more digestible than mature internodes, indicating that digestibility decreases significantly with internode maturation and tissue lignification. Some sugarcane hybrids (H89 and H58) combined desirable phenotype characteristics (high sucrose yield and low lignocellulose recalcitrance) that were not detected in H140 and H321. Proper molecular markers discriminating these samples will help to further design breeding steps to produce sugarcane modern hybrids combining high sucrose yields and low lignocellulose recalcitrance.