Tree growth, wood properties and saccharification traits in SwAsp Populus tremula trees grown in Ekebo Sweden

Background
Wood represents the majority of the biomass on land and constitutes a renewable source of biofuels and other bioproducts. However, wood is recalcitrant to bioconversion, raising a need for feedstock improvement in production of, for instance, biofuels. We investigated the properties of wood that affect bioconversion, as well as the underlying genetics, to help identify superior tree feedstocks for biorefining.
Results
We recorded 65 wood-related and growth traits in a population of 113 natural aspen genotypes from Sweden. These traits included three growth and field performance traits, 20 traits for wood chemical composition, 17 traits for wood anatomy and structure, and 25 wood saccharification traits as indicators of bioconversion potential. Glucose release after saccharification with acidic pretreatment correlated positively with tree stem height and diameter and the carbohydrate content of the wood, and negatively with the content of lignin and the hemicellulose sugar un..., Plant material
The Swedish Aspen (SwAsp) collection consists of 113 Populus tremula aspen genotypes from 12 locations across Sweden (Luquez et al., 2008). The genotypes represent potential sub-populations (Fig. 2), but whole-genome sequencing and sequence comparisons have shown that these genotypes are mostly unrelated (Wang et al., 2018a).
The genotypes were clonally propagated in 2003 from root cuttings and grown in a randomized block experiment in a plantation in southern Sweden (Ekebo, 55.9°N). Three to five trees per genotype were successfully established in 2004 (Luquez et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2018a).
After ten years of growth, tree height and diameter at breast height (DBH) were measured, and wood samples were collected from the stem. At 79 cm above ground, a 1-cm-thick section of the stem was collected, and the south-western facing quarter of the stem section was aliquoted for wood chemical composition analyses. In addition, 80-90 cm above ground, another piece of stem was h..., Excel