Comparison Of Biomass Chemical Compositions Among Miscanthus Germplasms

Members of Miscanthus are herbaceous perennial C4 plants, mainly distributed in southeast Asia, especially in China. There are about 13 species of Miscanthus in the world, among which 7 species in China and M. floridulus, M. sinensis, M. lutarioriparius, M. sacchariflorus are most widely distributed.Miscanthus by worldwide attention, is viewed as a potential fibers energy plants, which can be burned to produce electricity or converted to cellulosic ethanol. Generally, evaluation indexes of fiber energy plants are biomass yield, chemical compositions, calorific value and ecological adaptability et al. Chemical compositions of Miscanthus include hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, ash and moisture content. Therefore, Micanthus chemical compositions were determinated and evaluated to screen the germplasms with high fibers content, which provide the reference to collection of the core germplasms and make the foundation on the reseach of lignocellulose structure, gene isolation, molecular assisted breeding and energy development.Chemical compositions of 510 Miscanthus samples, including M. floridulus (n1=118), M. sinensis (n2=217), M. lutarioriparius (n3=45) and M. sacchariflorus (n4=130), collected from 25 provinces in China, were determinated via detergent fiber analysis, normal desiccation and ashing methods. The results are as follows.(1) Comparative analysis of chemical compositions content.a. Hemicellulose:M. floridulus (34.86%)>M. sinensis (34.82%)>M. sacchariflorus (32.98%)>M. lutarioriparius (32.34%).b. Cellulose:M. lutarioriparius (42.11%)>M. sacchariflorus (38.50%)>M. sinensis (35.06±%)>M. floridulus (32.71%).c. Lignin:M. lutarioriparius (13.64%)>M. sacchariflorus (11.22%)>M. sinensis (9.51%)>M. floridulus (8.90%).d. Total Ash:M. sacchariflorus (5.69%)>M. sinensis (4.02%)>M. floridulus (3.75%)>M. lutarioriparius (2.89%).e. Total moisture content:M. floridulus (61.90%)>M. sinensis (59.58%)>M. lutarioriparius (50.47%)>M. sacchariflorus (48.99%).(2) Coefficient of variation (CV) analysis of chemical compositions.a. Hemicellulose:M. lutarioriparius (0.1370)>M. sacchariflorus (0.1231)>M. sinensis (0.0936)>M. floridulus (0.0835).b. Cellulose:M. lutarioriparius (0.1470)>M. sinensis (0.1235)>M. sacchariflorus (0.1101)>M. floridulus (0.1085).c. Lignin:M. floridulus (0.2225)>M. sacchariflorus (0.1996)>M. sinensis (0.1914)>M. lutarioriparius (0.1708).d. Total Ash:M. sinensis (0.3085)>M. lutarioriparius (0.3080)>M. sacchariflorus (0.3040)>M. floridulus (0.2747).e. Total moisture content:M. sacchariflorus (0.2317)>M. lutarioriparius (0.1563)>M. sinensis (0.1425)>M. floridulus (0.1234).(3) Comparative analysis of Shannon-Weaver's diversity index on chemical compositio-ns.a. Hemicellulose:M. sacchariflorus (2.11)>M. lutarioriparius (2.05)>M. sinensis (1.99)>M. floridulus (1.86).b. Cellulose:M. sinensis (1.91)>M. lutarioriparius=M. sacchariflorus (1.84)>M. floridulus (1.75).c. Lignin:M. sacchariflorus (1.88)>M. floridulus (1.85)>M. sinensis (1.79)>M. lutarioriparius (1.67).d. Total Ash:M. sacchariflorus (1.91)>M. floridulus (1.63)>M. lutarioriparius (1.11)>M. sinensis (1.07).e. Total moisture content:M. sacchariflorus (1.94)>M. floridulus (1.75)>M. lutarioriparius (1.67)>M. sinensis (1.15).f. The average diversity index of 5 chemical compositions is:M. sacchariflorus (1.94±0.10)>M. floridulus (1.77±0.09)>M. lutarioriparius (1.67±0.35)>M. sinensis (1.58±0.43).(4) Correlation analysis of chemical composition and geographical distribution.a. The correlations between cellulose and lignin are extremely significant positive, pearson correlation coefficient (r) are:M. floridulus (0.667**), M. sinensis (0.246**), M. lutarioriparius (0.677**), M. sacchariflorus (0.346**).b. The correlations between cellulose and longitude are significant, pearson correlation coefficient (r) are:M. floridulus (-0.182*), M. sinensis (0.353**), M. lutarioriparius (-0.691**), M. sacchariflorus (-0.173*).c. The correlations between lignin and hemicellulose are extremely significant negative, pearson correlation coefficient (r) are:M. floridulus (-0.241**), M. sinensis (-0.313**), M. lutarioriparius (-0.691**), M. sacchariflorus (-0.473**).d. The correlations between lignin and total ash are significant negative, pearson correlation coefficient (r) are:M. floridulus (-0.481**), M. sinensis (-0.256**), M. lutarioriparius (-0.306*), M. sacchariflorus (-0.324**).M. lutarioriparius are appropriate for directcombustion according to the results in this article, In addition,58 purpose material were screened in this study according to Miscanthus chemical compositions and way of energy conversion.