Breeding for Bio-ethanol Production in Lolium perenne L.: Association of Allelic Variation with High Water-Soluble Carbohydrate Content.

ABSTRACT: Increasing the extractable sugar yield from perennial crops is one strategy to generate renewable fuels such as bio-ethanol. Lolium perenne L. (perennial ryegrass) can contain significant (>30% dry matter) water-soluble sugars in the form of polymeric fructan which is readily extracted, broken down and fermented to bio-ethanol. A population of L. perenne generated from four parents which differed in water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content was subjected to multiple rounds of selection and recombination on the basis of early spring WSC content to produce a high WSC, and a low WSC population. A control population was generated by selecting the same number of plants at random. The alleles present at six candidate gene loci were analysed before and after selection and correlated

SUBMITTER: Farrar K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4560082 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature