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An alternative method of flax retting during dry weather
Author(s) -
SHARMA H. S. S.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1986.tb03217.x
Subject(s) - retting , dew , biology , standing crop , linum , crop , horticulture , alternaria alternata , botany , bast fibre , aureobasidium pullulans , agronomy , food science , fermentation , biomass (ecology) , physics , condensation , thermodynamics
SUMMARY During exceptionally dry and hot weather undesiccated flax ( Linum usitatissi‐murri) and flax desiccated with glyphosate that was pulled and laid on the ground to dew‐ret, retted 1–2 wk before flax that was desiccated and left as a standing crop. This was because dew‐retted flax was colonised by fungi faster than that left standing. Cladosporium herbarum, Epicocum nigrum and yeast, including Aureoba‐sidium pullulans , appeared first; they were followed by Alternaria alternata, Fusarium culmorum and Phoma, Mucor and Rhizopus species. The standing crop retted more slowly despite the presence of greater concentrations of cell‐wall degrading enzymes. However, the fibres of flax retted as a standing crop retained more of their strength than those of flax retted on the ground. Thus dew‐retting provides means of retting when the weather is dry and hot.