Abstract
The saccharide compositions of peat and peatland plants were compared using 42 peat samples and 25 plant samples from Hokkaido, Japan. The amounts of hemicellulosic and cellulosic saccharides changed according to the type of peat and the depth in the profile. In general, the proportion of hemicellulosic glucose decreased while that of xylose increased with the increasing depth of peat layers. The proportion of galactose and mannose, which are dominant saccharides in Sphagnum, were higher in the upper layers than in the lower layers. Rhamnose, fucose and ribose, which are indicators for microbial saccharides, were contained in large amounts in the highly decomposed peat samples. While glucose was the dominant component in the cellulosic saccharides, the proportions of mannose (ca.20%) and xylose (10-30%) were also high in the fraction. A cluster analysis of peat and peatland plants was carried out using the composition of hemicellulosic saccharides as statistical data. Peat samples were grouped very well according to the type of peat. The clusters of most peats were separated from peatland plants, but some peat samples showed a very high similarity to Sphagnum, Eriophorum vaginatum and Myrica gale. The saccharide compositions of most of the other peats were more similar to that of Sphagnum than those of grasses and woods.
