Carbohydrate and Amino Acid Profiles of Cotton Plant Biomass Products

Zhongqi He,Dan C Olk,Hailin Zhang,Mark Shankle,Haile Tewolde

doi:10.3390/agriculture10010002

Abstract

To achieve the optimal and diverse utilization of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) plant residues in various agricultural, industrial, and environmental applications, the chemical composition of cotton biomass tissues across different plant parts (e.g., seed, boll, bur, leaves, stalk, stem, and root) is of essential information. Thus, in this work, we collected field-grown whole mature cotton plants and separated them into distinct biomass fractions including main stems, leaf blades, branches, petioles, roots, and reproductive parts (mid-season growth stage) or bur, peduncles/bract, and seed cotton (pre-defoliation stage). The contents of selected carbohydrates and amino acids in these cotton biomass materials were determined. Both essential and nonessential amino acids were enriched in cotton leaf blades and reproductive parts. The distribution pattern of the selected carbohydrates differed from that of amino acids—higher contents of carbohydrate were found in roots, main stems, and branches. Although glucose was the most abundant non-structural carbohydrate in cotton plant parts at mid-season, xylose was the most abundant in most plant parts at the pre-defoliation stage. Nutritional carbohydrates and amino acids were further accumulated in seeds at pre-defoliation. The information reported in this work would be helpful in exploring and optimizing management practices and processing strategies for utilizing cotton crop biomass materials as valuable and renewable natural resources.

Highlights

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is one of America’s greatest value-added crops
Studies have shown that biomass materials from other parts of the cotton plant are useful as a soil amendment, animal feed supplement, bioenergy source, and industrial raw material [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
Xylose was rich in all plant parts except leaf blades, with concentrations increasing at the more advanced growth stage

Summary

Introduction

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is one of America’s greatest value-added crops. Much of the cotton land area in the United States is located in the southern and southeastern regions [1,2,3,4]. The most valuable product of cotton crop is the lint. Studies have shown that biomass materials from other parts of the cotton plant are useful as a soil amendment, animal feed supplement, bioenergy source, and industrial raw material [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Kirkan et al [12] proposed that cotton stalk could be an important alternative source of bioactive components. Fidan et al [13] reported liquefaction of cotton stalks for use as a bio-based wood adhesive

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