Fig. 8
Light microscopy of transverse sections of jute stems. Differential staining was performed with ruthenium red and toluidine blue ‘o’. (a, b) Nonretted stems, intact cuticle and epidermis layer on day 0; (c, d) midretted stems with distorted epidermis and parenchyma on day 7; (e, f) Retted fibre samples without any cementing material on day 10. Scale bar = 100 μm (a, c, e) and 20 μm (b, d, f)