EN
The aim of these investigations was to determine quantities of structural carbohydrates occurring in grasses, such as cellulose and hemicellulose, but especially whole lignin. Results of our investigations allowed us to arrange meadow grasses into a diminishing sequence opened by Dactylis glomerata, Festuca arundinacea, Festuca pratensis and Alopecurus pratensis, and closed by Trisetum flavescens. This arrangement does not find its reflection in relation to the remaining components, especially lignin. The lignification process is species and variety specific and its course is by no means identical with that of cellulose and hemicellulose deposition in plants. For the arrangement of grass species according to the process of lignification and deposition of cellulose and hemicelluloses, it is important to recognize such properties of plants as stage of plant development, type of shoots and their morphological structure as well as the rate with which these compounds are deposited in plants. Morphological structure is of particular importance in this respect. The lignification rate should constitute an important criterion in the qualitative evaluation of grass cultivars before their introduction to cultivation.