Carbohydrate Concentration and Composition in Source and Sink Tissues of Two Tall Fescue Genotypes

Carbohydrate metabolism and partitioning are dependent on relationships between sources and sinks which can be affected by rates of photosynthesis and respiration. Fructan, the major form of stored carbohydrate in tall fescue (festuca arundineacea Schreb.), changes in concentration during growth and in response to the environment. Objectives of this study were i) to examine the content and the composition of carbohydrates in five tissues (mature leaf blade, immature leaf blade, leaf elongation zone, terminal meristem, and root tips) of two tall fescue genotypes, one with high yield per tiller (HYT) and one with low yield per tiller (LYT), and ii) to compare the reserved and utilized carbohydrates among above five different tissues, particularly between the leaf elongation zone and root tips. The established vegetative tillers of the HYT and LYT genotypes were grown in a controlled-environment growth chamber. Water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) in the leaf elongation zone was about 22% of dry weight in the HYT and about 19% in the LYT genotype. The root tip also had high WSC, about 12% of dry weight in the HYT and 6% in the LYT genotype. Hexoses and sucrose were the major components of total WSC in all tissues except the leaf elongation zone. The growing tissues (sinks), i.e., the leaf elongation zone and root tip, had a high proportion of low degree of polymerization fructan, i.e., 3 to 8 hexose units.