Researchers Discover Easily Digestible Plant Straws for Biofuels

Manufacturing biofuels from crop by-products could be made quicker and cheaper thanks to the work of researchers in the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products at the University of York led by Professor Simon McQueen-Mason. Their team, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), has discovered variant straw plants with cell walls that are more easily broken down to make biofuels, but which are not smaller or weaker than regular plants.

Researchers screened a collection of variants of a model grass species for digestibility. Using this approach, PhD student Poppy Marriott identified 12 independent plant lines with highly digestible straw which grew normally with no decrease in straw strength. Analysis of these plants showed that increased digestibility can be achieved through changes in the cell wall. The discovery could ease pressure on global food security since biofuels from non-food crops could become easier and cheaper to make.