A mutant plant (Arabidopsis thaliaria), sex1-1 (starch excess 1-1), accumulating high starch content in leaves was created to serve as better biomass feedstock for a H(2)-producing strain Clostridium butyricum CGS2, which efficiently utilizes starch for H(2) production but cannot assimilate cellulosic materials. The starch content of the mutant plant increased to 10.67 mg/fresh weight, which is four times higher than that of wild type plant. Using sex1-1 mutant plant as feedstock, C. butyricum CGS2 could produce 490.4 ml/l of H(2) with a H(2) production rate of 32.9 ml/h/l. The H(2) production performance appeared to increase with the increase in the concentration of mutant plant from 2.5 to 10 g/l. The highest H(2) to plant biomass yield was nearly 49 ml/g for the mutant plant. This study successfully demonstrated the feasibility of using a starch-rich mutant plant for more effective bioH(2) production with C. butyricum CGS2. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.