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Effects of Growing Temperature on Chemical‐Physical Properties of Kenaf Fibers 1
Author(s) -
Crouse Barry W.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1973.0011183x001300010016x
Subject(s) - kenaf , bast fibre , phytotron , hibiscus , ultimate tensile strength , xylose , fiber crop , materials science , composite material , botany , horticulture , biology , malvaceae , fiber , food science , fermentation
Several cultivars of kenaf ( Hibiscus cannabinus L.) were grown under five different thermal regimes in the Duke University phytotron, simulating a wide latitudinal distribution in the U.S. Kenaf stems were analyzed for carbohydrates by the gas‐liquid chromatograph.y trimethylsilyl method. Xylose, the major pentose species found in kenaf stems, was found to increase linearly with increasing environmental temperature over the range studied. Single kenaf bast fibers, from plants grown under the two temperature extremes, were tensile tested. A positive correlation was found between percent xylose of unfractionated stem sections and individual bast fiber axial tensile strength. Bast fibers from the warmest environment were strongest in axial tensile strength when expressed on a per unit area basis. It is suggested from this study that kenaf pulps from southerly locations may exhibit some superiority in strength characteristic over kenaf pulps produced from a crop grown at a northerly location.