From which Part of the Plant Cotton and Jute are Obtained

Q. From which part of the plant cotton and jute are obtained?

Answer: Cotton is obtained from the fruits of the cotton plant, and Jute is obtained from the stem of the jute plant.

Cotton

• Cotton is a plant that belongs to the Hibiscus family and is botanically known as Gossypium hirsutum or Gossypium barbadense, which produces cotton bolls as the ‘fruit’

• Within 35 days, the first flower buds (known as squares) develop. The bud swells and continues to push through the bracts as the squares develop, eventually opening into a lovely flower

• The flowers change colour from white to pink to crimson, mauve, or purple one to two days after pollination, and the petals fall off

• The fruit, known as bolls, then begins to form. Because it includes seeds, the boll is classified as a fruit

• The day the pink blossom falls off, individual cells on the surface of the seeds begin to lengthen (abscission)

• For the next month, the threads expand, mature, and thicken, forming a hollow cotton fibre inside the boll about the size of a small fig

• The fibre is subsequently opened, blended, cleaned, carded, and combed, among other procedures

Jute

• Jute fibre is made from the stem of the jute plant, which is grown during the rainy season and harvested when it reaches its flowering stage

• The collected plants’ stems are soaked (dipped) in water for a few days before rotting and being separated by hand

• It’s named the Golden Fibre since it’s a natural fibre with a golden and silky sheen. Jute is an annual crop that takes 120 days to mature (April/May to July/August)

• It flourishes in tropical lowland settings with humidity levels ranging from 60% to 90%. Jute is a rain-fed crop that requires no fertilisers or herbicides to grow

• Yields are about 2 tonnes of dry jute fibre per hectare. Jute is one of the most affordable natural fibres and is considered second only to cotton in the amount produced and variety of uses of vegetable fibres