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A successful biorefinery needs to align suitable pretreatment with sustainable production of biomasses. Herein, four perennial plants, (Sida, Silphium, Miscanthus and Szarvasi) regarded as promising feedstocks for biorefineries were subjected to the OrganoCat pretreatment. The technology was successfully applied to the different perennial plants revealing that pretreatment of grasses was more efficient than of non-grasses. Thorough analyses of the lignocellulose - before and after fractionation - enabled a detailed description of the fate of cellulosic, non-cellulosic polysaccharides and lignin during the pretreatment. Especially Szarvasi pulp displayed outstanding results in terms of fractionation efficiency and enzymatic digestibility, though in all cases successful lignocellulose fractionation was observed. These insights into the structural composition of different perennial plant species and the impact of the OrganoCat pretreatment on the plant material leads to useful information to strategically adapt such processes to the individual lignocellulosic material aiming for a full valorisation., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Vegetable product quality is an important consideration for consumers. Long-term root cooling could improve certain food quality of horticultural crops, but often comes at the expense of reduced shoot biomass or yield. Since few studies have investigated how fast Chinese broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra Bailey) responds to changes of root temperature, we shortened the duration of the root cooling treatment to one week before harvest to make the production system more effective. The aim of this study was to improve the food quality of Chinese broccoli without causing deleterious effects on plant growth and yield. The seedlings were cultivated hydroponically at two root temperatures (10 and 20 °C) during the last week prior to harvest in summer 2018 (Exp-1) and autumn 2019 (Exp-2). Plant growth, yield, physiological variables, soluble sugars, total chlorophyll, glucosinolates and mineral elements concentration were examined. The results showed that the yield reduction was alleviated compared to results over the long-term. Specifically, yield was not affected by root cooling in Exp-1 and reduced by 18.9% in Exp-2 compared to 20 °C. Glucose and fructose concentrations of the leaves were increased when the root temperature was 10 °C in both experiments with a more pronounced impact in Exp-2. In addition, root cooling produced a significant accumulation of individual glucosinolates, such as progoitrin, gluconapin, 4-methoxyglucobrassicin and 4-hydroxyglucobrassicin, in the stems of Exp-1 and the leaves of Exp-2. Minerals, such as N, showed reductions in the shoot, but accumulation in the root. Therefore, compared to long-term root cooling, short-term (one week) reduction of the root temperature is more economical and could help improve certain quality characteristics of Chinese broccoli with less or even no yield reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfadiazine (SDZ)-degrading bacterial cultures were enriched from the topsoil layer of lysimeters that were formerly treated with manure from pigs medicated with 14C-labeled SDZ. The loss of about 35% of the applied radioactivity after an incubation period of 3 years was attributed to CO2 release due to mineralization processes in the lysimeters. Microcosm experiments with moist soil and soil slurries originating from these lysimeters confirmed the presumed mineralization potential, and an SDZ-degrading bacterium was isolated. It was identified asMicrobacterium lacus, denoted strain SDZm4. During degradation studies with M. lacus strain SDZm4 using pyrimidine-ring labeled SDZ, SDZ disappeared completely but no 14CO2 was released during 10 days of incubation. The entire applied radioactivity (AR) remained in solution and could be assigned to 2-aminopyrimidine. In contrast, for parallel incubations but with phenyl ring-labeled SDZ, 56% of the AR was released as 14CO2, 16% was linked to biomass, and 21% remained as dissolved, not yet identified 14C. Thus, it was shown that M. lacus extensively mineralized and partly assimilated the phenyl moiety of the SDZ molecule while forming equimolar amounts of 2-aminopyrimidine. This partial degradation might be an important step in the complete mineralization of SDZ by soil microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]