The improvement of the saccharification of rice straw is one of the strategies to reduce the sophisticated pretreatment that results in high cost and is unfriendly to the environment. We explored the cell wall features in tetraploid rice and highlighted the enhanced saccharification of tetraploid with large biomass. Results showed that lignin content and S/G ratio reduced to 17.09% and 0.37, respectively, in tetraploid straw by the determination of the pyGC-MS method. After the pretreatment, the cellulose crystallinity index decreased from 63.22% to 57.65% in tetraploid straw, which is lower than that of pretreated diploid straw. Surface topological analysis of SEM images indicated that tetraploid straw was more susceptible to the pretreatment. Tetraploid straw showed a strong advantage in the process of enzymatic hydrolysis. The enzyme efficiency reached the highest value of 77.60%, and the rate of enzyme reaction was improved to make the reaction saturated earlier than conventional rice. We concluded that the high saccharification has resulted from the alteration of lignin and cellulose in tetraploid rice. Our research provides an improved green feedstock for bioenergy, and the tetraploid rice straw shows the potential utilization value in bioethanol production.
Keywords: cell wall; composition; enzymatic saccharification; lignocellulose; tetraploid rice.