CARBOHYDRATES IN SOME NATURAL STAND BAMBOOS

Abstract

The starch and total sugar (total carbohydrate) content of one- to three-year-old Malaysian bamboos, namely Bambusa blumeana (buluh duri), B. vulgaris (buluh minyak) and Gigantochloa scortechinii (buluh semantan) were analysed at various culm heights. The results indicate that the 3-y-old (oldest) culm gave the most amount of starch while no clear trend was observed in the distribution of the total sugar content with age. G. scortechinii was observed to contain the highest amount of total carbohydrates in all age and height levels (except for the butt portion of the 3-y-old B. vulgaris)