Dendrocalamus sinicus is a sympodial bamboo species endemic to Yunnan Province, China, and is the strongest bamboo species in the world. However, there is substantial variation in the basal culm shape, i.e., straight culm (SC) and bent culm (BC), among different D. sinicus as a result of genetic and growth factors. This study performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis of bamboo shoots of t...

Dry direct-seeded rice (DSR) is an alternative crop establishment method with less water and labor requirement through mechanization. It provides better opportunities for a second crop during the cropping season and therefore, a feasible alternative system to transplanted lowland rice. However, lodging is one of the major constraints in attaining high yield in DSR. Identification of QTLs for lo...

Regulation of symmetrical cell growth in the culm is important for proper culm development. So far, the involvement of gibberellin (GA) in this process has not yet been demonstrated in sorghum. Here, we show that GA deficiency resulting from any loss-of-function mutation in four genes (SbCPS1, SbKS1, SbKO1, SbKAO1) involved in the early steps of GA biosynthesis, not only results in severe dwarf...

Seasonal changes in the foodscape force herbivores to select different plant species or plant parts to meet nutritional requirements. We examined whether the search for calorie-rich carbohydrates explained giant panda's selection for bamboo culm over leaves during spring. Leaves and culms were collected from four Phyllostachys bamboos (P. aurea, P. aureosulcata, P. glauca, and P. nuda) once per...

A systematic study was conducted on P. pubescens by analyzing thermal characteristics of its rhizome and culm (1.5 m) at different ages, using various analyses such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry (TG). For both the rhizome and culm of P. pubescens, the relative crystallinity (Cr) of cellulose increased and then appreciably decreased wit...

Knowledge about gene expression during sugarcane growth and maturation is limited. A gene discovery programme has been in progress at SASEX since 1994 to identify and analyse genes that are expressed in different sugarcane tissue types and developmental stages. A database of sugarcane gene sequences has been established through the generation of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs). This database, co...

Grass culms are known to differ in breaking strength, but there is little physicochemical data to explain the response. The fourth internode of four brittle and two nonbrittle barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) strains were used for physical and chemical studies of culm strength. Inner and outer culm diameters of brittle strains (3.6 +/- 0.2 and 5.0 +/- 0.1 millimeters) were not significantly differen...

The culms of the giant reed Arundo donax represent slender tube-like structures. Several nodes along the culm, a ring of sclerenchymatous fibres in the periphery of the culm wall and numerous isolated vascular bundles enclosed by fibre rings in the culm wall function as stiffening elements. The bundles are embedded in lignified parenchyma. Micromechanical analysis indicated differences in stiff...

Gelidocalamus xunwuensis W.G.Zhang & G.Y.Yang, a new species collected from Xunwu County of Jiangxi Province in China, is described and illustrated. The new species is similar to G. stellatus in the habit, but differs by internodes sparsely hairy with granuliferous warts, culm sheath stiffly hairy, culm sheath blade broadly lanceolate to narrowly triangular, each node with a ring of appressed t...

The chemical properties and fiber morphology of Fargesia fungosa at different culm ages and height portions were investigated. The variations in moisture, ash, SiO2, and toluene–alcohol extractive contents with culm ages were greater than they were with heights. The holocellulose varied neither significantly with age nor with height. The fiber length, width, length-to-width ratio, and wall thic...