Dataset Information

Nutrient and drought stress: implications for phenology and biomass quality in miscanthus.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

The cultivation of dedicated biomass crops, including miscanthus, on marginal land provides a promising approach to the reduction of dependency on fossil fuels. However, little is known about the impact of environmental stresses often experienced on lower-grade agricultural land on cell-wall quality traits in miscanthus biomass crops. In this study, three different miscanthus genotypes were exposed to drought stress and nutrient stress, both separately and in combination, with the aim of evaluating their impact on plant growth and cell-wall properties.

Methods

Automated imaging facilities at the National Plant Phenomics Centre (NPPC-Aberystwyth) were used for dynamic phenotyping to identify plant responses to separate and combinatorial stresses. Harvested leaf and stem samples of the three miscanthus genotypes (Miscanthus sinensis, Miscanthus sacchariflorus and Miscanthus × giganteus) were separately subjected to saccharification assays, to measure sugar release, and cell-wall composition analyses.

Key results

Phenotyping showed that the M. sacchariflorus genotype Sac-5 and particularly the M. sinensis genotype Sin-11 coped better than the M. × giganteus genotype Gig-311 with drought stress when grown in nutrient-poor compost. Sugar release by enzymatic hydrolysis, used as a biomass quality measure, was significantly affected by the different environmental conditions in a stress-, genotype- and organ-dependent manner. A combination of abundant water and low nutrients resulted in the highest sugar release from leaves, while for stems this was generally associated with the combination of drought and nutrient-rich conditions. Cell-wall composition analyses suggest that changes in fine structure of cell-wall polysaccharides, including heteroxylans and pectins, possibly in association with lignin, contribute to the observed differences in cell-wall biomass sugar release.

Conclusions

The results highlight the importance of the assessment of miscanthus biomass quality measures in addition to biomass yield determinations and the requirement for selecting suitable miscanthus genotypes for different environmental conditions.

SUBMITTER: da Costa RMF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6821376 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Nutrient and drought stress: implications for phenology and biomass quality in miscanthus.

da Costa Ricardo M F RMF Simister Rachael R Roberts Luned A LA Timms-Taravella Emma E Cambler Arthur B AB Corke Fiona M K FMK Han Jiwan J Ward Richard J RJ Buckeridge Marcos S MS Gomez Leonardo D LD Bosch Maurice M

Annals of botany 20191001 4

<h4>Background and aims</h4>The cultivation of dedicated biomass crops, including miscanthus, on marginal land provides a promising approach to the reduction of dependency on fossil fuels. However, little is known about the impact of environmental stresses often experienced on lower-grade agricultural land on cell-wall quality traits in miscanthus biomass crops. In this study, three different miscanthus genotypes were exposed to drought stress and nutrient stress, both separately and in combinat ...[more]

PMID: 30137291

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundMiscanthus is a commercial lignocellulosic biomass crop owing to its high biomass productivity, resilience and photosynthetic capacity at low temperature. These qualities make Miscanthus a particularly good candidate for temperate marginal land, where yields can be limited by insufficient or excessive water supply. Differences in response to water stress have been observed among Miscanthus species, which correlated to origin. In this study, we compared the physiological and molecular responses among Miscanthus species under excessive (flooded) and insufficient (drought) water supply in glasshouse conditions.ResultsA significant biomass loss was observed under drought conditions in all genotypes. M. x giganteus showed a lower reduction in biomass yield under drought conditions compared to the control than the other species. Under flooded conditions, biomass yield was as good as or better than control conditions in all species. 4389 of the 67,789 genes (6.4%) in the reference genome were differentially expressed during drought among four Miscanthus genotypes from different species. We observed the same biological processes were regulated across Miscanthus species during drought stress despite the DEGs being not similar. Upregulated differentially expressed genes were significantly involved in sucrose and starch metabolism, redox, and water and glycerol homeostasis and channel activity. Multiple copies of the starch metabolic enzymes BAM and waxy GBSS-I were strongly up-regulated in drought stress in all Miscanthus genotypes, and 12 aquaporins (PIP1, PIP2 and NIP2) were also up-regulated in drought stress across genotypes.ConclusionsDifferent phenotypic responses were observed during drought stress among Miscanthus genotypes from different species, supporting differences in genetic adaption. The low number of DEGs and higher biomass yield in flooded conditions supported Miscanthus use in flooded land. The molecular processes regulated during drought were shared among Miscanthus species and consistent with functional categories known to be critical during drought stress in model organisms. However, differences in the regulated genes, likely associated with ploidy and heterosis, highlighted the value of exploring its diversity for breeding.

Dataset Information

Nutrient and drought stress: implications for phenology and biomass quality in miscanthus.

Background and aims

Methods

Key results

Conclusions

Publications

Nutrient and drought stress: implications for phenology and biomass quality in miscanthus.

Similar Datasets

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