Abstract
Lignin and cellulose are the two most abundant polymers in the biosphere. Conferring toughness and tensile strength to plant tissues, they can account for more than half of the total leaf dry mass and an even larger fraction in wood. The recalcitrance of lignin, in particular, means that lignin concentrations are critical in determining the nutritional quality, palatability and decomposition rates of plant litter. This chapter presents a gravimetric method to quantify lignin and cellulose in plant tissues. Dried and ground plant material is first extracted in acid detergent solution and subsequently dried and weighed before cellulose is hydrolysed with 72% sulphuric acid. The remaining material is dried again, reweighed and combusted to determine the ash content of the litter sample. The contributions of lignin and cellulose to total litter dry mass are calculated as the difference in the litter mass after different procedural steps. Specifically, the cellulose content is the difference in mass before and after cellulose hydrolysis, and the lignin content is the difference between the litter mass remaining after cellulose hydrolysis and the final mass after ignition. The method has proved valuable in establishing strong relationships between litter quality, fungal growth and litter decomposition rates
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Gessner, M.O. (2020). Lignin and Cellulose. In: Bärlocher, F., Gessner, M., Graça, M. (eds) Methods to Study Litter Decomposition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30515-4_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30515-4_21
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