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

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Abstract

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.

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Abbreviations

EC:

electrical conductivity

BOD:

biological oxygen demand

COD:

chemical oxygen demand

Ca + Mg:

calcium + magnesium

Zn:

zinc

Cu:

copper

Fe:

iron

Mn:

manganese

Cfu:

colony forming unit

KCl:

potassium chloride

H2SO4 :

sulphuric acid

N:

nitrogen

P:

phosphorus

ppm:

parts per million

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Crop Production, ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute & Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700 120, India

    B. Majumdar, Lipi Chattopadhyay, Shrestha Barai, A. R. Saha, S. Sarkar, S. K. Sarkar, S. P. Mazumdar, R. Saha & S. K. Jha

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  1. B. Majumdar
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  2. Lipi Chattopadhyay
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  3. Shrestha Barai
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  4. A. R. Saha
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  5. S. Sarkar
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  6. S. K. Sarkar
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  7. S. P. Mazumdar
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  8. R. Saha
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  9. S. K. Jha
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Correspondence to B. Majumdar.

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Majumdar, B., Chattopadhyay, L., Barai, S. et al. Impact of conventional retting of jute (Corchorus spp.) on the environmental quality of water: a case study. Environ Monit Assess 191, 440 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7589-7

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