NECROPHITIC FUNGAL GENERA ASSOCIATED TO LEAVES OF Spartina argentinensis Parodi AND Panicum prionitis Nees in Argentina

Abstract

Spartina argentinensis and Panicum prionitis are herbaceous grasses that dominate many communities used for livestock production systems. High amounts of biomass accumulate in these communities without being grazed by cattle due to their low digestibility. Hence, farmers often burn these rangelands in order to stimulate higher quality regrowth. This type of biomass could be used to produce bioethanol. As a biomass pretreatment is necessary to increase the efficiency of the hydrolysis process. The use of ligninolytic enzymes commonly produced by some fungi could be an alternative. In this paper, the fungal genera present in both grasses from different locations and with different degrees of decomposition were surveyed. According to the literature, the following isolated fungal genera show ligninolytic capacity: Alternaria, Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Cladosporium, Epicoccum, Fusarium, Nigrospora, Penicillium, Pestalotia y Phoma. Most of them were found in both hosts. Ligninolytic enzymes could be obtained from these fungi in order to improve the efficiency of ethanol production of this kind of biomass.