Carbohidratos y Floración en Hesperaloë funifera (Koch) Trel. (Samandoque)

Several researchers have noted that flowering in Agavaceae requires substantial resources, but few studies have attempted to directly measure such resources. T his study addresses the hypothesis that fruit set in Hesperaloë funifera is limited by available carbohydrates. The accumulation of total non-structural carbohydrates (TNC) prior to flowering was measured, and total requirements for carbohydrate were estimated. Hesperaloë funifera was found to accumulate fructans, and roots were an important organ for storage of accumulated carbohydrates. Carbohydrates stored in the plant prior to flowering are sufficient to meet only about onethird of the carbohydrate needed to produce an average inflorescence with 1 % to 2% fruit set. All of the carbohydrate produced by photosynthesis from May through August is needed to support flowering and fruit production. Low percentage fruit set in Hesperaloë funifera is probably due to a deficiency of carbohydrate resources.

Hesperaloe funifera as a raw material for integral utilization of its components

Hesperaloe funifera was characterizedin terms of its contents of holocellulose, α-cellulose, and lignin (74.1, 52.3, and 7.9%, respectively). Also, an experimental factor design was used to examine the influence of operational variables in the diethanolamine pulping of this material (viz. diethanolamine concentration (50-80%), cooking temperature (155-185 ºC), and time (30-90 minutes)) on the contents of holocellulose, α-cellulose, and lignin, as well as the yield, kappa number, and viscosity of the resulting pulps, and also on the brightness, tensile index, stretch, burst index, and tear index of paper sheets made from it. The predictions for these dependent variables departed by less than 1, 7, 6, 2, 2, 4, 15, 11, 12, 10, and 37% from their respective experimental values. Black liquors obtained from the pulping runs were characterized by determining pH, density, TDS, (total dissolved solids), MI (inorganic matter), MO (organic matter), and lignin content; lignin samples were characterized by different techniques (FTIR and TGA). Finally, the black liquors were acidified to separate solid fractions that were subjected to pyrolysis and gasification in order to obtain synthesis and fuel gases.