Mesta 1.0

MESTA (Hibiscus cannabinus/subdariffa)
Economic Importance:
 Mesta is also known as ‘Kenaf’ or as ‘Deccan hemp’ or ‘java jute’.
Hibiscus subdariffa is also known as ‘roselle’ in India.
 Unlike jute, the fibres are extracted from bark (phloem) [otherwise
called as bast fibres] as well as core (xylem).
 The crop gained importance over jute, by its wider adaptability and
good quality much stronger fibres than jute.
 Mesta fibres have applications similar to jute but differ in respect of
strength.
 Bast consists of 40 % of stem and used to extract long slender fibres
(2-6 mm) and inner core comprise of 60 % of stem, which are used to
extract thick short (0.5 mm) fibres.
 Ideally, the core is used to manufacture paper and bast is used to
extract fibres- but sometimes entire stem is used to manufacture the
paper.
History and Origin:
 Hibuscus cannabinus was originated in southern Sahara, where it was
domesticated 6000 years ago.
 But, H. subdariffa was originated in India.
Description of Plant:
 It is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant (rarely a short-
lived perennial) growing to 1.5-3.5 m tall with a woody base.
 The stems are 1–2 cm diameter, often but not always branched.
 The leaves are 10–15 cm long, variable in shape, with leaves near the
base of the stems being deeply lobed with 3-7 lobes, while leaves near
the top of the stem are shallowly lobed or un lobed lanceolate.
 The flowers are 8–15 cm diameter, white, yellow, or purple; when
white or yellow, the centre is still dark purple.
 The fruit is a capsule 2 cm diameter, containing several seeds. The
plant has a deep-penetrating taproot with deep-seated laterals.
Differences between H. cannabinus and H. sabdariffa
Hibiscus cannabinus Hibiscus sabdariffa
It is hermohrodite, annual with Unisexual , annual,unspined
bristles
Lower leaves entire, cordate, upper Leaves polymorphous, typically
leaves deeply palmate lobed pinnate, deeply lobed and alternate
on stem
Flowers large, cream colored, with Flowers smaller, cream light to yellow
reddish purple throat, open before with magenta colored throat
sunrise close same day in after noon
Short day plant and ceases to grow Short day plant- but not so sensitive
when day lengths are < 12.5 hrs to critical day length of 12.5 hrs
Grows to a duration of 110-140 days Grows to a duration of 150-180 days
Varieties of Hibiscus cannabinus

 Nirmal (MT 150)
 BJRI Kenaf1
 BJRI Kenaf 2
 JBM 81
 HC 583
 AMC 108
 HC 269
Varieties of Hibiscus sabdariffa
 HS 4288
 HS 7910
 AMV 1/2/3/4
Uses of Kenaf:
 As fibre: Coarser, long celled fibre made from bast is strong fibre
used for ropes, twines, coarse cloth, carpet, mats. Fibres are also used
as animal bedding material, liquid absorbent, insulation material,
packing material, soilless potting mixture. Recently kenaf fibres are
blended with plastic and resins to be used for automobiles, industrial
applications.
 As oil seed: As source of vegetable edible oil, with high PUFA; oil is
also used for industrial lubrication, cosmetics and bio fuel
production. Seeds contain 20% oil, rich in linoleic acid, oleic acid and
palmitic acid.
 As paper pulp: The inner core of stem having short soft fibres are
commercially used to manufacture papers of various grade (writing
papers, printing papers, news prints). It is cheap and environmentally
sound proposal to use kenaf as source of paper than paper out of
perennial wood species
 As leafy vegetable: The leaves are used traditionally as vegetable for
various culinary preparations
Soil and Climatic Requirements
 Kenaf is widely cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical areas of the
world, where it is grown mainly as a fibre crop but also for its seeds
and leaves.
 Mesta prefers warm humid climate and well drained fertile soil.
However, it can be grown in most soils but prefers light soils with a pH
of 4.3 to 8.2.
 Kenaf is adaptable to wide range of climates. Kenaf can grow with an
annual precipitation of 57 to 120 cm and in temperature range of 11.1
to 44°C. But it is frost sensitive and also easily damaged by heavy
rains with strong winds.
 Ideally it requires temperatures in the range of 15 - 35°c.
 Plants are light sensitive; they remain vegetative and do not flower
until the day length is less than 12.5 hr/day.
 Two weeks of very cloudy days will induce flowering as day length
approaches 12.5 hr.
 Early sown crop ( as early as March) may require longer duration to
mature (even up to 280 days)
Land preparations:
 The land is deeply ploughed and harrowed once or twice after
application of 3-4 tons /ha of manure.
Seeds and sowing:
 The seeds are sown by drill or by broadcast, respectively requiring
seed rate of 12-15 Kg /ha and 20-22 Kg/ha. The spacing adopted for
kenaf is 30X 10 cm.
Weed control:
 Although kenaf a nd roselle compete well with weeds, its is necessary
to control the weeds by hand weeding(for broadcast crop) or hoeing(
for drill sown crop) up to 45 days- after which the crop will take upper
hand. Rarely herbicides are used. If necessary, Fluchloralin (1.5-20
Kg a.i./ha) could be sprayed as pre-emergence spray.
Fertilizers:
 Generally, a fertilizer dosage supplying 50:30:40 Kg N,P2O5 and K2O
per ha is needed, with sometimes nitrogen varying up to 80 Kg-
depending on N status of soil. Nitrogen is recommended in two splits
_ one half at te htime sowing ( along with P& K fertilizers) and balance
at the time of first hoeing after 20-25 days after sowing.
Plant protection:
 Spraying Imidachloprid @ 0.3 ml/Lt) or Acephate @ 1.5 g/ Lt may be
necessary against jassids; Dichlorovas @ 1 ml/Lt against m,ealy bug;
mancozeb @3 g/Lt against stem rot/ leaf blight is necessary
Harvesting:
 Best time to harvest mesta for fibre is when the plants are left with ten
or twelve flowers. The taller plant will have some of the lower fruits
matured, while the shorter plant may not have mature fruits at the
time of harvesting. Delayed harvesting gives poor quality higher fibre
yield and early harvest gives high quality lesser yield. Harvesting is
done normally by cutting the plants close to the ground with the help
of sickle. In some areas the plants of mesta are also uprooted. The
quality of fibre is adversely affected in latter cases. The cut stems are
sorted according to diameter and bundled and kept in the field for 2-3
days for leaf shedding. Then they are taken for retting.
Retting:
 Retting is done either by chemical and biological method, out of
which biological method is cheap and popular. The biological retting is
of three types
(i) Stack method; (ii) Ribbon method and (iii) Steep method.
 Under the stack method the plants are bundled and bundles are
stacked and some fungal culture is utilized for retting of the stacked
plants. The stack retting is not followed in India and in the other
nearby countries. The ribbon retting (bark of the green plants is
extracted with the help of a ribboner and the ribbons are retted) is also
practiced in some countries. Ribbons may also be retted by chemical
method since less quantity of chemicals are required for retting
purpose.
 The steep method of retting is very popular in almost all the mesta
producing countries. The steep retting consists of the bundling of
mesta plants after the harvest in the convenient sizes. The bundles are
kept in standing position in 50 to 60 cm deep water for nearly 3 or 4
days. This helps in retting of the hard lower portion of the bark. In
some cases a few plants of dhaincha or sunnhemp are inserted in the
bundles of mesta.
Chemical method of retting
 The Chemical retting is affected by certain chemicals like ammonium
oxalate, sodium oxalate or 'Hiparal'. The chemicals remove gums,
pectins, lignins without affecting the quality of fibre. Hiparal is a
mixture of enzymes extracted from a tropical fungus named
Thielaviopsis paradoxa. The Hiparal is mixed with pectinases
developed from Bacillus caratavarius in equal proportion. Since
chemical retting is quite costly biological retting is followed in most of
the countries.
Yield of fibres:
 After retting process is completed, the fibres are washed and dried
under the sun. A fibre yield of 15-30 /ha is expected

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MESTA (Hibiscus cannabinus/subdariffa)

Varieties of Hibiscus cannabinus

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