ISSN ………… - International Network for Bamboo and Rattan

7. FIBRE MORPHOLOGY
Fibre length of bamboo is generally greater than that of hardwoods. The fibre morphology of 12
bamboo species from India showed a mean fibre length ranging from 1.01 to 4.03 mm (Bhargava
1945) 136 . Various studies have been reported on the fibre dimensions of different bamboo species
from different countries and their suitability for commercial pulping [Seabra (1954) 189 on some
African bamboos; Istas et al. (1956) 159 ten species from Belgian Congo; Du (1957) 386 on seven
Taiwan species including Sinocalamus latiflorus having the longest fibre; Ku (1971) 165 on the
Thailand species Bambusa beecheyana Munro var. pubescens; and on the Indian species Bambusa
vulgaris, Dendrocalamus strictus, Oxytenanthera monostigma and Melocanna baccifera by
Maheshwari et al. (1976a) 227 , Azzini (1976) 366 and Guha et al. (1980) 457 ]. Varshney (1965) 262
reported the effect of anatomical characteristics of bamboos on pulping. The quality of the cook,
especially the mechanical properties of the pulp are determined by the degree of impregnation of
cooking chemicals in the chips, the diffusion rate during cooking and the amount of screen rejects and
by the residual parenchyma and ray cells. Pulps made from different species of bamboo show less
variation than expected (Grant 1962) 37 . The fibre content was found to increase with culm height and
decrease from outer to inner part of the culms in Phyllostachys reticulata of age 1-6 years (Kitamura
1962) 332 . But, the variation in parenchyma proportion in this species due to age was not significant.
The parenchyma proportion in Phyllostachys reticulata was very close to that of Dendrocalamus
strictus Singh et al. (1971) 354 . In general, it is therefore probable that parenchyma proportion in
different species varies within narrow limits only; fibre dimensions, however, vary widely in different
species (Monsalud 1965) 338 .
Chu and Yao (1964) 326 provided details on the fibre length, cell wall thickness and percentage of
fibres and other elements of 33 Chinese bamboo species and classified these bamboos on the basis of
fibre characteristics for pulp and paper. Out of these, 21 species were found promising for yielding
high quality pulp. Later, Xia (1989) 241 reported the fibre length of eight Chinese bamboo species.
The fibre dimensions, flexibility coefficients, Runkel and slenderness ratios of four Thai bamboo
species were described by Premrasmi and Aranyaputi (1965) 63 . Monsalud (1965) 338 described the
fibre characteristics of 13 Philippine bamboo species. Unlike woods, fibre dimensions or their derived
values are not useful in classifying bamboos. The fibre dimensions of some Philippine bamboos for
long fibred paper pulps were described by Tamolang (1962) 355 , Monsalud and Tamolang (1962) 8
and Zamuco (1972) 359 . The morphological as well as chemical composition and suitability for
pulping of various bamboo species as well as pulping processes were reviewed by Ukil (1961) 203 and
Witkoski (1964) 210 .
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