The effect of lignin in enzymatic saccharification of bred sugarcane bagasse

Lignin, one of the major components of lignocellulosic biomass, plays an important functional and structural role in plants. Lignin is also known as major contributor to the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass, and has been a target for feedstock improvement through genetic engineering. This work examines the influence of lignin in conventional bred (clones 260 and 204) sugarcane bagasse after liquid hot water pretreatment. In conventional breeding, large differences in lignin are not expected because the plant does not easily lose this trait from one generation to the next. However, the bagasse clone 260, showed  a small but statistically significant lower lignin content than clone 204 (18.9% versus 21.5%).  Clone 260 had a higher cellulose conversion (81.3 %) when an enzyme loading of 5FPU/g of glucan was used. In comparison clone  204 gave 63.3% conversion at the same conditions. This work suggests that even a small difference in lignin content in sugarcane bagasse may have a major beneficial impact in cellulose conversion, while maintaining viable plant growth.