Switchgrass Rust Reduces Ethanol Yield from Infected Plants
October 28, 2015http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12155-015-9680-4
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Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is a biofuel crop known attacked by the disease switchgrass rust caused by Puccinia emaculata. Virginia Sykes of the University of Tennessee and her team examined the impact of switchgrass rust on ethanol yield.
Naturally infected leaves from switchgrass grown in 2010 and 2012 were categorized as exhibiting low, medium, or high infection based on chlorosis and sporulation. Samples from 2010 underwent simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) to measure ethanol yield. Meanwhile, the ethanol yield for 2012 samples was estimated using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).
Analysis revealed that the effect of disease level were significant and caused a large difference in ethanol yield. In SSF, ethanol was reduced by 35 % in samples with medium infections and by 55 % in samples with high infections. In the NIRS dataset, estimated ethanol was reduced by 10 % in samples with medium infections and by 21 % in samples with high disease symptoms.
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