Cotton and Jute
1. Cotton:-
Botanical Names:- Gossypium sp. (G. arboreum, G. barbadense, G. berbaceum and G. hirsutum).
Family:- Malvaceae.
Economic Botany:-
> It is the chief fibre plant which supplies more than 70% of the world consumption of fibres.
> Fibres occur on the seeds in the form of flattened, twisted and tubular hairs.
> Raw cotton consists of cellulose (94%), protein (1.3%), pectic substances (0.9% to 1.2%), water (0.6%), sugar (0.3%) and some pigment traces.
> Chief use of the cotton is in the textile industry. Other uses include stuffing of pillows, cushions, and also in rubber tyre fabrics.
> Short fibres, called linters or fuzz, are used for superior acetates and viscose rayons, cellulose ethers and esters, and nitrocellulose lacquers.
> Hull, the outer covering of cotton seeds, is used for cattle feeding, fertilizers, fillers in plastics, and manufacture of insulating materials.
> A most important semidrying oil (cotton seed oil) is obtained from the seeds of cotton. It is used as a cooking oil. Other uses of this oil include in the preparation of soaps, paints and varnishes, washing powders, artificial leather, glycerine, nitroglycerin, etc.
> Seed cake is used as fertilizer and as cattle feed.
> Gossypium roots are used in some fevers.
> Its seeds are used in diseases like gonorrhoea, catarrh and gleet.
> Leaf juice of G. berbaceum is used in scorpion and snake bites.
> Cotton fibre is also used in paper industry, specially in preparing fine quality paper.
2. Jute:-
Botanical Name:- Corchorus capsularis, C. olitorius.
Family:- Tiliaceae.
Economic Botany:-
> It is a chief fibre-yielding annual shrub.
> Fibres are obtained from the stem of two species, i.e., C. capsularis and C. olitorius.
> It is a bast fibre, obtained from the secondary phloem by the process of retting.
> Jute is cultivated in West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Bihar and U.P.
> Jute fibre is used in making carpets, coarse material, twine, gunny bags, paper and many similar articles.
> Jute forms the base of linoleum and wool carpet industry.
> High quality grease-proof paper is prepared from the fibres of jute sticks. It is used commonly is confectionery industry for wrapping greasy materials.
> Dried leaves of C. capsularis are also used as a remedy for dysentry.
> Besides India, Bangladesh is also a chief jute- producing country of the world.