Abstract
Abstract Lignin is a polyphenolic compound found in plant tissues, especially wood and bark. The lignin content determines the quality of wood biochar in agroecological uses, and is used in the production of synthetic resins and adhesives. Despite its importance in plant physiology and its agricultural and industrial utility, there exists a wide gap of knowledge of lignin contents of tropical hardwood trees of South Asia, except for a few species. We present here the first estimation of lignin content in wood and bark of 48 species from tropical deciduous forests of India. We show that some species are characterized by greater wood lignin (WL) compared with bark lignin (BL) content, contrary to the generalization held for hardwood trees, and suggest a plausible correspondence between the WL to BL ratio and timber quality.
Highlights
Lignin, a polyphenol compound, is found in plant cell wall, and is the second most abundant plant biopolymer after cellulose
The Klason lignin, acid soluble lignin, and ash contents of the wood and bark of 48 species are presented in Supplementary Table S1
The data corroborate the established fact (Novaes et al, 2010) that lignin content is fairly invariant within a species, but varies considerably between different species
Summary
A polyphenol compound, is found in plant cell wall, and is the second most abundant plant biopolymer after cellulose. It is found especially in the bark and wood fibers. Lignin is formed by variously organized phenyl-propane units, linked by alkyl-aryl ether and C–C bonds, and is derived from p-coumaryl, coniferyl, and sinapyl alcohols. The proportion of these aromatic units in the macromolecular structure depends on the taxonomic group of the plant and its anatomical part. For its importance in production of biochar (Deb et al, 2016; Spokas et al, 2012) and industrially valued products (Chung & Washburn, 2012), information of lignin content in different species would facilitate appropriate feedstock selection
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