The sequential microbial breakdown of pectin is the principal incident during water retting of jute (Corchorus spp.) bast fibres.

The extraction of bast fibres such as jute from plant stems involves the removal of pectin, hemicellulose, and other noncellulosic materials through a complex microbial community. A consortium of pectinolytic bacterial strains has been developed and commercialized to reduce the retting time and enhance fibre quality. However, there are currently no studies on jute that describe the structural changes and sequential microbial colonization and pectin loss that occur during microbe-assisted water retting. This study investigated the stages of microbial colonization, microbial interactions, and sequential degradation of pectic substances from jute bark under controlled and conventional water retting. The primary occurrence during water retting of bast fibres is the bacterially induced sequential breakdown of pectin surrounding the fibre bundles. The study also revealed that the pectin content of the jute stem significantly decreases during the retting process. These findings provide a strong foundation for improving microbial strains for improved pectinolysis with immense industrial significance, leading to a sustainable jute-based "green" economy.

Impact of conventional retting of jute (Corchorus spp.) on the environmental quality of water: a case study.

Production of quality jute fibre primarily depends on the retting process of jute. However, the quality of retting water is of great concern because of the scarcity of available water bodies for retting. A study conducted on physico-chemical and microbiological changes in retting water (pre- and post-retting) from four intensively jute-growing districts namely Nadia, North 24 Parganas, Hooghly and South Dinajpur of West Bengal, India, during jute retting. The post-retting water samples recorded lower pH (6.22 to 7.08) and higher EC (electrical conductivity) (0.509 to 0.850 ds/m) compared with pre-retting water samples (pH 6.63 to 7.44; EC 0.197 to 0.330 ds/m) collected from all the four districts under study. The biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) increased several folds in the post-retting water samples indicating very high microbial growth and activities and depleted oxygen level compared with pre-retting water. The Ca + Mg (calcium + magnesium) content in pre-retting water was high (24.15 to 36.60 ppm) which raised further (61.30 to 103.67 ppm) in post-retting water, while the bicarbonate content also increased and ranged between 2.72 and 6.81 me/l in post-retting water compared with its status in pre-retting water (1.30 to 3.15 me/l). The post-retting water was found to be a rich source of nutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) which increased substantially because of jute retting as compared with their status in pre-retting water. The population of pectinolytic, xylanolytic, cellulolytic and ligninolytic bacterial cfu (colony forming unit) increased by 1.5 times in post-retting water as compared with pre-retting water, because these specific bacterial population were involved in the degradation of pectin, xylan, cellulose and lignin during retting of jute. Thus, post-retting water can be judiciously used as a potent source of primary, secondary and micronutrients for succeeding crops besides having higher BOD and COD as a result of higher microbial growth related to jute retting.