Fig. 7From: The sequential microbial breakdown of pectin is the principal incident during water retting of jute (Corchorus spp.) bast fibresLight microscopy of longitudinal sections of jute stems. Differential staining was performed with ruthenium red and toluidine blue ‘o’. Pectin-rich parenchyma catches the color of ruthenium red, and the presence of lignin causes the fibre bundles to take blue tint of toluidine blue O: a) fresh stem (day 0) with intact orientation of plant tissues; b) mid-retted (day 7) bark samples showing gaps between the bast fibre bundles; and c) dissociated fibre bindles of retted fibre samples (day 10). Scale bar = 200 μmBack to article page