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ABSTRACT

Jute (Corchorus olitorius) is grown as an important cash crop in eastern India for extraction of fibre. Fibres are extracted by a natural microbial process known as retting. Retting process after harvest of the crop plays a vital role in producing quality jute fibre. In traditional process of retting, a huge biomass undergoes decomposition in stagnant water. The problems associated with conventional retting are inadequate retting infrastructure, high cost of water as well as labour required for retting process which increases the cost of production up to 30 %. Ribbon retting can be a potential solution to these problems. In ribbon retting, ribbons are stripped out mechanically from the stem of mature jute plants then they are coiled and are allowed to continue the retting process under water. Ribbon retting decreases time of normal retting by 4-5 days. It saves water, space and the cost of retting process up to 50 % over the conventional method. The use of efficient pectinolytic microbial inoculum improves quality of fibre and reduces the time of retting as well as environmental pollution. The ribbon retted jute fibres are free from bark and are of higher grade as compared to fibres obtained from traditional method. So, ribbon retting is an improved technique to produce high quality jute fibre. There is need for extension efforts to make this process popular among farmers.

Keywords: Jute, Microbial process, Ribbon retting, Quality fibre

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11._Ribbon_Retting_of_Jute_An_Eco-friendly_Method_for_Quality_Jute_Fibre_Production_compressed.pdf