Power of Imaging in the Study of Lignocellulosic Biomass Tissues

In 2021, maize was the second most important crop in France with 2.8 million ha (1.5 million ha for grain maize and 1.3 million ha for forage maize). Forage maize is the basis for feeding dairy herds in France and its digestibility is an important criteria. The maize stovers (stalks, leaves and spathe) left after the harvest of the maize grains constitute an important co-product and represent about 70% of the dry matter harvested in the form of grain. These canes can be used as lignocellulosic biomass input to biorefineries for the production of second-generation bioethanol. Whether conventional use for silage or use of co-products in biorefineries are considered, the aim is to make the most of the sugars that make up the biomass (in addition to starch for silage) and therefore to digest or degrade the parietal polysaccharides (cellulose and hemicelluloses) as efficiently as possible. This chapter presents how the distribution of lignified tissues can impact biomass degradability. In addition, it provides a review of the imaging techniques available to account for this tissue distribution/composition.