Abstract:
Bamboos, a category of non-timber grasses, belong to the family Poaceae and the subfamily Bambusoideae. Therefore, phylogenetically they are close to rice (Oryza sativa), Brachypodium and other reference grasses. It has immense potential for the ligno-cellulose biomass (LCB) based biofuel industry primarily due to their high growth rate, which leads to rapid accumulation of LCBs, high fibre contents, requirement of less agronomic input, existence of a wide genetic pool, and having no conflict with food crops. Despite this, there haven't been sufficient investigations to study the biology of cellulose and lignin deposition in tree bamboos. There remains a serious dearth of understanding, in particular, with respect to varying cellulose and lignin levels that exist at the germplasm/population level. Therefore, in this study, seven abundantly growing and widely distributed bamboo species of West Bengal, India, namely Bambusa balcooa, B. tulda, B. bambos, B. nutans, B. striata, Dendrocalamus giganteus, and D. strictus were investigated to assess their potential as LCB donors. In order to determine the chemical composition of LCBs obtained from the internode tissues of these species, this study utilized physico-chemical techniques such as, Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) Spectroscopy, Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), biochemical assessments of α-cellulose, lignin levels and important anatomical features with major emphasis on the vascular bundles. Findings of this study indicated that analysing intensity of stain specific for cellulose and lignin could be a useful, yet cheap marker to screen a big collection of bamboo species and germplasms in order to identify superior species/genotype having potential for the liquid, biofuel industry. Collective analysis of all these parameters have identified B. bambos as the reference bamboo species having enormous prospects for future biomass based bioenergy production. . Also, in this study, three Cellulose Synthesis A (CesA) genes possibly associated with secondary cell wall formation had been identified and sequence characterized from the tropical bamboo B. tulda. Expression characterization from selected, vegetative tissues and developmental tissue stages indicate that they might be good candidate for future investigation to obtain bio stock having enhanced biomass accumulation. Collectively, this study developed an integrated strategy that might be utilized in future on other plants having similar biomass based bioenergy potential.
