Willows are suitable for widespread cultivation as biofuels because they produce large quantities of accessible sugar, are fast-growing and can tolerate harsh environmental conditions, such as windy slopes and poor soil. In fact, trees grown in harsher conditions or polluted soil can even produce better biofuel because the sugar they produce is more accessible, requiring less energy to harvest it. Growing willow trees at a 45 degree angle simulates this natural stress, encouraging the trees to produce up to five times more sugar than plants grown normally. But exactly why and how this happens has not been clear until now.
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