Question

For retting of jute the fermenting microbe used is
A) Methophilic bacteria
B) Butyric acid bacteria
C) Helicobacter pylori
D) Streptococcus lactis

Answer 1

Jute is one of the most important natural fibers having increased economical importance. Almost $85\%$ of the jute cultivation of the world is known to take place in the Ganges Delta.

Complete answer-
For growing jute the farmers scatter the seed onto the soil, when the plants are 15-20 cm tall they are thinned out and after four months the harvesting begins. The climate suitable for the cultivation of jute is wet and warm, which mostly is the early monsoon that is followed by summer. River basin or alluvial soil or loamy soil are the best suited soils for cultivation of jute. The plants are harvested after they flower, following which stalks are cut, tied into bundles and soaked in water. This leads to the softening of the tissues, breaks the bond between bast and allows the fibers to be separated. Retting of jute is defined as the extraction of fibers from the bast of bast fiber plants. Retting can be done by different ways such as mechanical retting, steam retting, chemical retting and microbial retting. The microbes used for retting of jute are butyric acid bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens , Clostridium botulinum , etc.

So the correct option is B) Butyric acid bacteria.

Note-
Apart from the Ganges Delta in India, other countries known to produce high quality jute are Bangladesh and China. Bangladesh is the highest exporter of jute in the world whereas China has the highest yield of jute in the world.