Impact of waterlogging on yield and quality of tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius)

In rainy season, many jute-growing zones of India remain waterlogged affecting its yield and quality. An experiment was conducted during 1998 and 1999 under controlled conditions to evaluate the impact of waterlogging and drainage [0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 cm water heads with a well-drained condition (40 cm) as control] on ‘JRO 524’ tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L.). Jute plants lodged within a week, survived for 20 to 30 days at 10 to 30 cm water head, exhibited premature leaf senescence and poor growth (up to 40, 41, 80 and 56% reduction in plant height, basal diameter, tap root dry weight and photosynthetic rate respectively). Waterlogging increased the stomatal resistance of jute leaves. It reduced nutrient uptake by jute plants and microbial population of soil. Waterlogging reduced the fibre yield from 20 to 60% and its strength from 12 to 55%. Waterlogging resulted in inferior quality jute fibre. In medium lands, drainage in C. olitorius jute will augment its fibre yield from 20 to 60% consistent with quality.