A note on the formation of microbial polysaccharide from wheat straw decomposed in the absence of soil

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Abstract
Chapman, S.J. & Lynch, J.M. 1984. A note on the formation of microbial polysaccharide from wheat straw decomposed in the absence of soil. Journal of Applied Bacteriology56, 337–342.The proportions of neutral sugars in fresh and decomposed wheat straw polysaccharide were similar, irrespective of the oxygen concentration used during breakdown. Polysaccharide extracted by hot water from the decomposed straw was composed mainly of galactose, glucose and mannose with smaller quantities of arabinose, xylose, rhamnose, fucose and ribose. The presence of these sugars indicates a mainly microbial origin for the polysaccharide but with some soluble hemi‐cellulose breakdown products. The polysaccharide precipitable with 70% (v/v) ethanol accounted for 0.5% (w/w) of the degraded straw. The extracted polysaccharide was shown to increase the aggregate stability of Mount St Helens volcanic ash.