Structural carbohydrate levels in kikuyu grass and ryegrass grown under identical conditions

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Abstract
Kikuyu grass herbage (Pennisetum clandestinum) contained higher levels of cell-wall constituents than perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) grown under identical conditions. Much of this difference was due to hemicellulose rather than cellulose. A similar pattern was obtained with leaf blades from glasshouse-grown plants of the two species. Kikuyu grass stolons and leaf sheaths contained higher levels of structural carbohydrates than their corresponding leaf blades. In all of the kikuyu plant parts analysed the hemicellulosa level was 90-100% of the cellulose level. In leaf blades and sheaths of a second Pennisetum (P. typhoides) the level of hemicellulose was much lower than that of cellulose, which is typical of most festucoid and panicoid grasses.