biostudies-literatureOng RGOffice of Energy Efficiency and Renewable EnergyOffice of Science237https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5100259biostudies-literatureUnknown9<h4>Background</h4>Interannual variability in precipitation, particularly drought, can affect lignocellulosic crop biomass yields and composition, and is expected to increase biofuel yield variability. However, the effect of precipitation on downstream fermentation processes has never been directly characterized. In order to investigate the impact of interannual climate variability on biofuel production, corn stover and switchgrass were collected during 3 years with significantly different precipitation profiles, representing a major drought year (2012) and 2 years with average precipitation for the entire season (2010 and 2013). All feedstocks were AFEX (ammonia fiber expansion)-pretreated, enzymatically hydrolyzed, and the hydrolysates separately fermented using xylose-utilizing strains Biotechnology for biofuelsInhibition of microbial biofuel production in drought-stressed switchgrass hydrolysate.PMC5100259DE-AC05-76RL01830DE-FC02-07ER64494Bottoms SOng RGSmith SAOates LGPiotrowski JSBates DMHigbee ACavalier DSanford GREilert DDickinson QSato TKJones ADCoon JJSerate JXie DZhang YPohlmann EfalseInhibition of microbial biofuel production in drought-stressed switchgrass hydrolysate.<h4>Background</h4>Interannual variability in precipitation, particularly drought, can affect lignocellulosic crop biomass yields and composition, and is expected to increase biofuel yield variability. However, the effect of precipitation on downstream fermentation processes has never been directly characterized. In order to investigate the impact of interannual climate variability on biofuel production, corn stover and switchgrass were collected during 3 years with significantly different precipitation profiles, representing a major drought year (2012) and 2 years with average precipitation for the entire season (2010 and 2013). All feedstocks were AFEX (ammonia fiber expansion)-pretreated, enzymatically hydrolyzed, and the hydrolysates separately fermented using xylose-utilizing strains 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z20162026-07-15T21:24:26.321Z2026-07-09T10:14:02.264ZS-EPMC51002592782635610.1186/s13068-016-0657-0