Vanessa S. Gordon

Fiber composition of a diversity panel of the world collection of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) and related grasses

The world collection of sugarcane (Saccharum hybrids) and related grasses (WCSRG) is an important source of genes for sugarcane and energycane breeding. The core collection or diversity panel of the WCSRG was created in Canal Point with 300 accession and 10 checks to evaluate its diversity. The fiber components of the species and accessions within the WCSRG are unknown, so a shredded and dried fiber sample was taken from each accession and sent for fiber analysis. The acetyl groups, acid insoluble lignin, acid soluble lignin, arabinan, glucan, holocellulose, total lignin, structural ash, and xylan were quantified on a % fiber basis and nonstructural ash on a % total basis. There were significant, but not large differences between species for holocellulose, lignin, acetyl, acid soluble lignin, PLANT BREEDING Article Fiber composition of a diversity panel of the world collection of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) and related grasses James Ryan Todd1,2, Hardey Sandhu2, Joe Binder3, Rebecca Arundale3, Vanessa Gordon4, Jian Song5, Barry Glaz4, Jianping Wang5,6* 1.University of Florida Agronomy Belle Glade (FL) -United States. 2.USDA Agricultural Research Service Sugarcane Research Unit Houma (LA) United States. 3.BP Biofuels North America LLC Houston (TX) United States. 4.USDA Agricultural Research Service Sugarcane Field Station Canal Point (FL) United States. 5.University of Florida Agronomy Gainesville (FL) United States. 6.University of Florida Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology ProgramGenetics Institute GainesvilleFlorida United States. *Corresponding author: wangjp@ufl.edu Received: Dec. 20, 2016 – Accepted: Mar. 8, 2017 nonstructural ash, and glucan. For each trait, Saccharum spontaneum had significantly more holocellulose, glucan, lignin, and nonstructural ash and less acetyl and acid soluble lignin than other species. In all populations, glucan and holocellulose were positively correlated and glucan and lignin were negatively correlated. In hybrids, internode length correlated positively with holocellulose and nonstructural ash and negatively with lignin. Principal component analysis indicated that a large amount of diversity exists within each of the species. The results suggest that strategic use of the WCSRG could provide both positive and negative selection for fiber-related traits could be made within all species of the collection.