EVALUATION OF PULP AND PAPER MAKING POTENTIAL OF SOME WEEDS OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA

Weeds are undesirable plants and form large biomass due to luxurious growth. Tissue proportion, anatomical characteristics and the derived indices of fibres are important features for pulp and paper making. The present study was conducted on eight species namely Artemesia vulgaris, Crassocephalumcrepidioides, Daphne papyraceae,Plectranthusparviflora,Pogostemonbenghalensis,Rumexnepalensis,Tagetusminuta and Verbascumthapsus of Arunachal Pradesh, India and were compared with Bambusa tulda, a promising species in NE India to see their potential for pulp and paper making. The selected species had 41-49% fibres, 10-21% vessels and 35-46% parenchyma. The fibres were of medium length (608.88μm-973.28 μm) thin walled with cell wall thickness (2.65 μm -4.57 μm) and lumen diameter(10.44 μm -2071 μm). Vessels were short in length (217.05 μm -346.53 μm) with small diameter (44.03 μm -84.33 μm). All the selected species possessed elastic fibres with Runkel ratio less than 1, flexibility coefficient between 60-75, slenderness ratio more than 33 (except C. crepidioides) and low Luce’s shape factor and rigidity coefficient. The present study indicate that all selected weeds can be utilized for pulp and paper making.