A Study on Techniques and Theories of Microbial Retting of Flax in South China II.Effect of major external factors on pectinase and retting of flax

Major factors affecting the retting of flax, such as water temperature, pH , ratio of flax stem to water and chemical addititives, were all studied in this paper. The results showed that all above factors had an important effect on pectinase activity and retting of flax. The optimum retting conditions were as follows with pond water as retting water: water temperature 30℃-35℃, ratio of flax stem to water 1: 20 - 1: 25 and pH7. 0 - 7. 5. After 24h retting, urea added into retting water by 2% of flax stem can obviously improve the activity of pectinase and speed up flax retting.