The Application of the Total Available Carbohydrate Method to the Study of Carbohydrate Reserves of Switch Cane (arundinara Tecta).

Plant physiologists and others interested in the periodic accumulation and depletion of the reserve carbohydrates in plants have long recognized the need for a rapid method for the estimation of the readily available carbohydrate fraction. This is especially true in applied studies such as those concerned with the efficient management of pasturage or forage plants. Undoubtedly, many worth while projects of an applied nature have never been undertaken because of the lack of time to carry out the tedious fractionation of the individual carbohydrate constituents. H. WEINMANN (9) has recently published a method for the determination of the total available carbohydrates in plant material by a single determination. The present paper reports a summary of the studies on the analytical aspects of the method as well as its applicability to the study of the seasonal trends in the carbohydrate reserves in the storage orgalls of switch cane (Arundinara tecta), a plant readily grazed by eattle.