What desirable changes in the properties of the energy crop, Miscanthus are caused by white rot fungi?

Miscanthus x giganteus is a high biomass crop that requires low quantities of fertilizer making it a suitable crop in the Welsh grasslands. It has a has high lignin content similar to the lignin content in soft and hard woods, with most of the lignin occurring in the outer stem. There are a variety of different genotypes differing in lignin content. It also has a long fibre length making it suitable for paper production.

Previous studies have investigated the growth of white rot fungi on a variety of different agricultural and forestry waste materials. Some of these studies showed that Ceriporiopsis subvermispora significantly degraded lignin (40%) in corn stover, Phlebia brevispora thrived better than most fungi on wheat straw and Pleurotus sp. showed higher lignin degradation than other fungi resulting in high quantities of reducing sugars. In forestry waste, C. subvermispora had little effect from a bio-industrial perspective. Few studies have investigated growth of white rot fungi on Miscanthus.