Lignocellulosic biomass is an alternative source of energy that can reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and limit greenhouse gas emissions. Several techno-economic analyses have consistently shown that all the steps in biomass-to-bioproduct processes needs improvement. Simultaneous assessment of genotypes for multiple productivity characteristics and integrating information across production stages has seldom been the focus of research efforts. To address this gap, we first determined the agronomic performance of 10 poplar genotypes. Differences between genotypes in height, diameter at breast height (DBH), tree mass and yield were consistently observed. Correlation analyses revealed that height and DBH are positively correlated with tree mass and yield, whereas bark content is negatively correlated with tree mass, yield and disease incidence. Four highest-yielding genotypes were subjected to proximate, ultimate, targeted chemical analyses, along with assessment of sugar production by acid hydrolysis and enzymatic saccharification. Despite having only marginal changes in overall chemistry, the genotypes showed differential conversion efficiencies of enzymatic saccharification. Interestingly, the genotype that showed highest cellulose conversion efficiency had the lowest estimated sugar yields due to its low biomass yield, whereas the genotype with lowest conversion efficiency had the highest estimated sugar yields. These results show the importance of integrating information across the stages of biomass production and bioconversion. These results also demonstrate the complexity of biomass feedstock production and the need for future studies to assess whether these tradeoffs can be genetically separated to guide the selection of genotypes that can maximize the overall biomass feedstock production efficiency.

木质纤维素生物质是一种替代能源，可以减少我们对化石燃料的依赖并限制温室气体排放。几项技术经济分析一致表明，生物质到生物产品过程中的所有步骤都需要改进。同时评估多种生产力特征的基因型和跨生产阶段整合信息很少成为研究工作的重点。为了弥补这一差距，我们首先确定了 10 个杨树基因型的农艺性能。一致观察到基因型在高度、胸高直径 (DBH)、树木质量和产量方面的差异。相关性分析表明，高度和胸径与树木质量和产量呈正相关，而树皮含量与树木质量、产量和发病率呈负相关。对四种产量最高的基因型进行了近似、最终、有针对性的化学分析，并通过酸水解和酶糖化对糖产量进行了评估。尽管在整体化学方面只有微小的变化，但基因型显示出酶促糖化的不同转化效率。有趣的是，显示最高纤维素转化效率的基因型由于其低生物量产量而具有最低的估计糖产量，而具有最低转化效率的基因型具有最高的估计糖产量。这些结果表明在生物质生产和生物转化的各个阶段整合信息的重要性。