REPORT ON A VISIT

TO TO BJRI
( BANGLADESH JUTE
RESEARCH
INSTITUTE)

SUBMITTED BY :
SUBMITTED TO :
TALAL HOSSAIN
MUNAWAR SULTANA

DR.

SH-16
MD. ANWAR HOSSAIN

DR.

4TH YEAR (SESSION 2012-2013)

DEPARTMENT OF MICROBIOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA

Introduction
Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make
products, or "any technological application that uses biological systems,
living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or
processes for specific use" (UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Art. 2).
Therefore, microbial biotechnology consists of one that involves
microorganisms.
We are fortunate enough to have microbial biotechnology as a part of our
Bachelor of Science curricula. Perhaps we are even more fortunate to have
excellent teachers who cooperatively organized a kind of tour to learn about
biotechnology in Bangladesh jute research institute . Bangladesh jute
research institute. The proper learning of biotechnology can never be truly
fulfilled without visiting biotechnology based organizations and seeing for
yourself how biotechnology is used. Thus we are thankful to the teachers who
arranged and successfully completed this visit. We had learnt a lot from just a
one day visit and this report would try to summarize the experience and
lessons as much as possible.
Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong
threads. It is produced primarily from plants in the genus Corchorus, which
was once classified with the family Tiliaceae, more recently with Malvaceae,
and has now been reclassified as belonging to the family Sparrmanniaceae.
The primary source of the fibre is Corchorus olitorius, but it is considered
inferior to Corchorus capsularis. "Jute" is the name of the plant or fiber that is
used to make burlap, Hessian or gunny cloth.
The word 'jute' is probably coined from the word jhuta or jota, an Oriya word.

Jute is one of the most affordable natural fibers and is second only to cotton in
amount produced and variety of uses of vegetable fibers. Jute fibers are
composed primarily of the plant materials cellulose and lignin. It falls into
the bast fibre category (fiber collected from bast, the phloem of the plant,
sometimes
called
the
"skin")
along
with kenaf, industrial
hemp, flax (linen), ramie, etc. The industrial term for jute fiber is raw jute. The
fibers are off-white to brown, and 14 metres (313 feet) long. Jute is also
called the golden fiber for its color and high cash value.
The Bangladesh Jute Research Institute is the oldest mono-crop research institute of the country.
Jute Research was first started in Dhaka with the creation of a Fiber Expert's position and
assumption of the responsibility by Sir R.S. Finlow in 1904 under the Bengal Department of
Agriculture (1904-1939). To intensify research on jute and allied fibers, Jute Agricultural
Research Laboratory (JARL) was established by the Indian Central Jute Committee (ICJC) in
Dhaka in 1939. During 1936-47 the effective infrastructure required for a board spectrum of
Jute Research activities was established. After the partition of India in 1947, in the light of
erstwhile ICJC. Pakistan Central Jute Committee (PCJC) in turn reorganized the existing JARL
was Jute Research Institute (JRI) at the present site in 1951. Later on in 1963 jute
technological/industrial research activities/industrial research activities were initiated in the
present site as an independent body in the name of Jute Technological Research Board with the
help of the then Pakistan Jute Mills Association. Consequently it was amalgamated in the PCJC
as agile organization as a separate project with the different budget provision including foreign
currency allocation. Subsequently, Bangladesh Government promulgated the jute act in 1974
(modified in 1996) as established Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI).
To perform the functions, the Institute have three main branches, namely.
1. Agriculture Research on Jute.
2. Technological Research on Jute, and
3. Marketing and Economic Research on Jute.
After the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 Jute Sector was taken up with special and realistic
approach. The Bangladesh Govt. promulgated the Jute Act in 1974 and established Bangladesh
Jute Research Institute (BJRI) with specific mandate which was modified in 1996 with the
following major functions.

To promote agriculture, technological and economic research on jute and allied fibers and
their manufactures and dissemination of results thereof.
To organize production, testing and supply of improved pedigree of jute seeds and
multiplication, procurement & their distribution to recognized organization, selected growers and
such other agencies as may be approved by the Board.

To set up research centers, sub-stations, pilot projects and farms in different regions of
the country for carrying out research on different problems of jute and allied fiber crops, jute
products and allied materials.
To establish project areas for demonstration of new varieties of jute developed by the
institute and to train the farmers for cultivation of these varieties of jute.
To establish annual reports, monographs, bulletins, and other literatures relating to jute
research and the activities of the institute.
To organize training of officers and progressing farmers on modern improvement method
of cultivation of jute and allied fiber crops and also to train technical hands for utilization of
technological findings and
To do and perform such other activities as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act.

Agriculture Research on Jute

THE AGRICULTURE RESEARCHON JUTE AT BJRI CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING
DIVISIONS :-

Pest Management Division

Insect-pest management of jute, kenaf and mesta.

Fibre Quality Improvement Division

Improvement of fibre quality, location specific retting of jute, kenaf and mesta

Breeding division
Variety development, maintenance of varietal purity, nucleus seed production.

Jute Farming Systems Research Division

Jute farming systems, jute based cropping patterns, on-farm adaptive research and
technology transfer of Agriculture Wing.

Farm Management Unit

Region specific agricultural research, suitability test of evolved technologies and
transfer of agricultural technologies.

Genetic Resources and Seed Division

Collection, characterization and documentation of germplasm, gene bank management,
breeders seed production and distribution and biotechnological research.

TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AT BJRI CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING DIVISIONS-

Textile Physics Division

Development and quality assessment of jute and allied fibre, testing of different
parameters of fibre, yarn of fabric.
Chemistry Division
Chemical modification and Development of non-traditional products for diversified uses,
dyeing, printing and finishing.
Mechanical Processing Division:
Mechanical Processing Division of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) is involved
with jute mechanical processing. The division consists of three departments. These are
o

Spinning

Weaving &

Machinery development and maintenance.

Spinning and weaving departments are working for making quality jute yarn and fabric
following developed processing technology in the laboratory. Machinery development
and maintenance department involved with innovation, development and maintenance
of jute/textile machinery. The division has already developed a large number of jute
processing technologies and equipment. Most of these are patented.
Pilot Plant and Processing Division

Chemical processing (using dyeing, printing and finishing method) pilot scale
production of jute and allied fibre products for adoption in industrial level, transfer of
industrial technologies.

JUTE AND TEXTILE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

CENTRE
Jute And Textile Product Development Centre
Development of diversified jute product through cotton processing system by
blending/union of jute with natural fibres like cotton, flax etc. and with synthetic fibres.

SEMINAR
A seminar was presented by the fibre quality improvement division on the whole
cutting and processing of jute. It was presented by dr. firoza Akhter . she also described
how BJRI developed new technologies to improve the processes. The processes which
she described is summarized below.

Jute cultivation
Jute is a rainy season crop, sown from March to May according to rainfall
and type of land. It is harvested from June to September depending upon
whether the sowings are early or late.

Climate and Soils

Jute requires a warm and humid climate with temperature between 24 C
to 37 C. Constant rain or water-logging is harmful. The new gray alluvial
soil of good depth, receiving salt from annual floods, is best for jute. Flow

ever jute is grown widely in sandy loams and clay loams.

Sowing of jute
Sowing of jute in midlands and high lands starts with showers in March or April and continues till early
June in the western part of the jute belt. Compost or firm yard manure, Phosphorus and Potash, Nitrogen
fertilizers are used as a fertilizer. Interculturing is essential in the early stage. Pasts are also require for
plant protection.
Harvesting
Jute is harvested any time between 120 days to 150 days when the flowers have been shed, early
harvesting gives good healthy fibers. The plant from 8 to 12 feet high are cut with stickles at or close the
ground level. In flooded land, plants are up rooted. The harvested plants are left in field for 3 days for the
leaves to shed.
The stems are then made up into bundles for steeping in water. Steeping is carried out immediately after
harvest.

The Fibre Extraction

The jute plant's fibres lie beneath the bark and surrounded the woody central part of the stem. To
extract the fibres from the stem, the process is carried out in the following stages :

Retting
Retting is a process in which the tied bundles of jute stalks are taken to the tank by which fibres get
loosened and separated from the woody stalk. The bundles are steeped in water at least 60 cm to 100
cm depth. The retting process is completed in 8 to 30 days, when the barks separate out easily from the
stick or wood and the fibres are ready for extraction. A development in recent years is adoption of ribbon
retting technology in jute growing trade of the country.

MICROORGANISMS IN RETTING PROCESS

Retting is essentially a microbial process . microorganisms degrade the crop and provides for high quality
fibre production. Microorganisms involved are mainly bacteria and fungi. According to BJRI Bacillus
polymixa , Bacillus subtilis , Bacilllus megaterium, Bacillus putida, Clostridium sp. , Pseudomonas sp. and
diplococcus sp are involved in bacterial process. A succession of microorganism occurs as the water in
which the plants are immersed is aerobic and first and then succeeds to anaerobic conditions.

The BJRI screened fungi of different origins and found that the saprophytic fungus
(Sporotricchum) was capable of retting dry ribbons of jute satisfactorily, under laboratory
conditions. BJRI workers also developed a technique for dipping the dry ribbons into the fungal
solution prior to separation.
Post-retting treatments with the use of fungal cultures were also examined to minimize the effect
of cuttings on the fibres by removing the hard and barky bottom portion without adversely
affecting other fibre qualities. Aspergillus sp. was found to be beneficial in improving the quality
of fibres produced by one or two grades.

Stripping (Fibre Extraction)

Stripping is the process of removing the fibres from the stalk after the completion of retting. Fibres are
removed from the stalk by any one of the following
methods :
(i)
Single plants are taken and their fibers are taken off.
(ii) Taken off a handful of stalks,breaking it in a to and fro motion in water.
(iii) Washing the stalks first by standing in waist deep water and then stripping afterwards.
When there is a plenty of water, bundles of stalks are laid in the pond ditches or slow moving streams and
left for 5-15 days under water. The bunch of stem is held in one hand and the root end tapped lightly with
a mallet. After loosens the rest of fibres, fibres are extracted and washed.

Washing and Drying

Extracted fibres are washed in clean water. The dark colour of fibres can be removed by dipping them in

tamarind water for 15 to 20 minutes and again washed in clean water. After squeezing excess water the
fibres are hang on bamboo railing for sun drying for 2-3 days.

Bailing and Packing

The jute fibre is graded into tops, middles, B, C and X-bottoms. Packing into Kutcha bales about 250
pounds for use in the home trade. they are transported to jute market or direct to jute mills.

INNOVATION OF BJRI :
The scarcity of ditches and inconsistencies of jute fibre production is mainly due to the
retting process. In the past the whole jute plant was allowed to spoil in ditches. This is
very inefficient as it takes more space and gives inconsistent fibres. Therefore BJRI
innovated the process in bangladesh to take off the bark before allowing to ret so it
takes less space, less time and consistent jute fibres.

RIBBON RETTING

Usually mature stems of harvested jute plants are allowed to ret in pond or ditch water. Retting
is a preferential rotting process to separate the fibre from woody stem without damaging the
fibre cellulose. Retting microbes consume the non-fibrous cementing materials mainly pectin
and hemicellulose. Over retting causes degradation of fibre cellulose while under retting causes
incomplete removal of gummy materials viz., pectic substances. Both over retting and under
retting which are very difficult to control causes production of low grade jute fibre. In
conventional retting, a huge biomass undergoes decomposition in stagnant water, so retting

causes environmental pollution. In ribbon retting, ribbons are stripped out mechanically from
the stem of mature jute plants, coiled and allowed to ret under water. Ribbon retting reduces
time of normal retting by 45 days. Moreover, requirement of water for ribbon retting is almost
half in comparison to conventional whole plant retting under normal condition. This also
reduces environmental pollution to a great extent. But use of efficient pectinolytic microbial
inoculum improves quality of fibre, further reduce the time of retting and the environmental
pollution. In our study, a mixed bacterial retting culture, developed in our institute, was
inoculated during ribbon retting of jute. The ribbon retted jute fibres are absolutely free from
bark and were of higher grade. Moreover, the fibre filaments were stronger, improved coloured
and finer textured compared to conventional stem retted jute fibres. Most of the defects arising
from conventional retting could be overcome by ribbon retting. So, ribbon retting is a great
promise to produce high quality jute fibre in one hand and a more eco-friendly measure on the
other.

JUTE GENOME PROJECT

Basic & Applied Research on Jute Project (BARJ) is a government funded scientific
research project in Bangladesh with a goal of determining the jute genome sequence of
from both physical and functional standpoint. It is a follow-up of the jute genome project to
improve the productivity and quality of jute fiber by utilizing genome information.
The project has initiated in September 2010, headed by Professor Maqsudul Alam as

Principal Investigator (PI), Department of Microbiology, University of Hawaii, under the

administration of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) in the Ministry of Agriculture.
Director General of BJRI, Dr. Md. Kamal Uddin is the acting Project Director (PD) of BARJ
project.
A consortium of researchers in Bangladesh has successfully decoded the jute plant draft genome sequencing.
The consortium consisted of Dhaka University, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute and software
company DataSoft Systems Bangladesh Ltd. in collaboration with Centre for Chemical Biology, University of
Science Malaysia and University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA. Bangladesh is the second country after Malaysia
among the developing nations in this kind of achievement.

Biotechnological improvement in the processing of jute

There are huge opportunities to employ biotechnology in the
processing of jute as we have seen in BJRI. According to my
observations and perception the following could be added or
improved in jute processing by biotechnology :-

1. RETTING PROCESS
A bacterial and fungal biodiversity in retting process can be
thoroughly investigated and the best composition of bacteria
should be used. Moreover genetic modification of bacteria to
produce higher amount of pectinase enzyme should be
beneficial.
2. Immobilized enzyme technology
Enzymes required for retting process, bleaching process and
other processes can be extracted and immobilized to be
employed. This would make the processes faster and more
efficient.
3. Bleaching process
Jutes acquired are usually brownish in color and are required
to be bleached. As seen in BJRI the technology in
Bangladesh used chemical bleaching and is environment
polluting along with being expensive. Microbial or
enzymatic bleaching can be used instead to save money and
environment.
4. Jute texture conversion
The texture and conformation of fibres can be bio-converted
by using microorganisms. This allows for diversified use of
jute and therefore expands the industry. Softening agents
used in the industry can be changed to microbial softeners.
Jute can be converted to a very strong material by microbial

processing and used in structures. Biopolishing can be done

to improve product quality.
5. Genetic manipulation of jute plant
The jute plants can be genetically modified and made to
produce high quality jute fibres. The fibres can be made to
be produced colourful or even glow in the dark.
6. Cellulolysic ethanol
The remnants from jute production that is jute leaves and
carcasses can be used to produced cellulolysic ethanol by
fermentation and consequently used as energy source for the
jute industry or sold off.

VISION MODEL OF JUTE PROCESSING

Jute processing and production of jute material is a long process in contrast to cotton. This is probably why
uses of jute is undermined by cotton. In order to make jute a real competitor of cotton and make jute more
popular in the textile industry, a composite mechanism from the harvesting of jute plants to jute fibre should
be made. This is where the vision model comes in. this model illustrates a machine that would intake jute
plants and give jute fibres at the other end of the machine.

insertion
of raw
jute plants

ribbon
retting by
high
activity
enzymes

speed
drying

mechanic
al
separation
of jute
fibres

processin
g of jute
fibres

collection
of high
quality
jute

INSERTI
ON OF
JUTE
PLANTS

JUTE
FIBR
ES

JUTE PRODUCTS

AT THE BJRI WE SAW MANY JUTE PRODUCTS SOME OF WHICH WE DID NOT EVEN
THINK COULD EXIST. PERHAPS THE MOST EXCITING ONE WAS THE ROOF SHED
MADE BY JUTE.

SPECIAL APPRECIATION GOES OUT FOR DR. DONALD

JAMES GOMEZ SIR AND DR. MUNAWAR SULATANA
ALONG WITH ALL THE RESEPECTED TEACHERS.

WE ARE THANKFUL TO THE AUTHORITY OF BJRI

AND ALL THE WARM MEMBERS OF BJRI.