Cell Wall Components and Heading Date in Switchgrass.

Megan Sue Taylor¹, Carl-Erik Tornqvist², Michael Casler³ and Yiwei Jiang¹, ¹Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, ²Department of Agronomy and DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, ³USDA Dairy Forage Research Center, Madison, WI Switchgrass is a native prairie grass that has shown implications in being a valuable bio-energy crop. Switchgrass is capable of surviving a variety of environments, yielding large amounts of biomass. This species has high water use efficiency and requires relatively low amounts of inputs, which makes it a primary candidate for biofuel production. Switchgrass has been identified as a model biofuel grass species, however, creating lignocellulosic biofuel from switchgrass poses challenges. To have a successful biofuel crop, the plant material must easily be degraded; lignin causes cell wall recalcitrance, which is detrimental to biofuel production. Cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin are the three main components that control the optimization of biofuel production. The goal of this study was to identify genes related to cell wall components, plant height, and canopy diameter influencing the suitability of switchgrass for biofuel production In this study the biomass, plant height, canopy diameter, and cell wall components were collected for a tetraploid population of switchgrass (~250 individuals) grown in Lafayette, IN. Trait collection was conducted over two growing seasons and near infrared spectrometry was used to determine cell wall components. Cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin content , biomass, plant height, and canopy diameter will be used in a quantitative trait loci study in conjunction with heading time to determine if there is overlap between genes controlling forage quality, biomass yield, plant height, canopy diameter, and heading time. In addition, comparisons among heading date, flowering date, and biomass will be completed to determine the effects of heading date and flowering time on biomass production and forage quality. The results would lead to a better understanding of genetic variation of cell wall composition in switchgrass.

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