Linen Most Useful: Perspectives on Structure, Chemistry, and Enzymes for Retting Flax

Table 4

Carbohydrate composition of flax fibers.

Source^1	Carbohydrate concentration (mg/g)
	Uronic acid	Rhamnose	Arabinose	Xylose	Mannose	Galactose	Glucose
Fiber (A)	0.2 ± 0	9.7 ± 0.6	15.5 ± 0.6	15.9 ± 1.7	30.7 ± 0.9	32.4 ± 0.4	434.0 ± 18.3
Fiber (A)  d	0.1 ± 0	7.6 ± 2.9	5.5 ± 1.2	7.0 ± 0.2	39.1 ± 2.5	34.9 ± 0.9	649.5 ± 38.8
Fiber (A)  f	0.1 ± 0	8.4 ± 0.4	5.5 ± 0.1	6.6 ± 0.2	37.3 ± 1.3	41.3 ± 1.5	699.0 ± 5.7
Fiber (A) u	0.1 ± 0	6.6 ± 1.5	5.3 ± 0.8	7.6 ± 0.1	33.4 ± 0.6	27.7 ± 0.8	602.0 ± 24.0
Fiber (A) e	0.1 ± 0	14.8 ± 0.4	11.4 ± 1.1	10.7 ± 0.8	31.5 ± 4.0	28.3 ± 2.1	498.0 ± 40.0
Fiber (L) l	0.3 ± 0	14.8 ± 5.8	9.6 ± 4.9	17.2 ± 9.1	31.8 ± 1.6	30.2 ± 0.7	563.0 ± 2.8
Fiber (L) h	0.3 ± 0	11.9 ± 1.3	10.9 ± 2.9	12.4 ± 1.2	45.0 ± 0.1	36.9 ± 2.3	719.5 ± 4.9
Fiber (B) w	ND^2	6.7 ± 0.6	4.7 ± 0.2	12.6 ± 1.6	45.6 ± 4.6	35.3 ± 3.6	668.9 ± 31.3
Fiber (M) d	ND	6.9 ± 1.3	6.9 ± 1.3	10.7 ± 1.6	44.6 ± 8.8	38.9 ± 4.8	661.8 ± 50.3

¹The core and fiber materials were hand separated from plant stems, with the fibers cleaned by various means. (A) is cultivar Ariane grown commercially and supplied by Van de Bilt Zaden b.v., Sluiskil, Holland. (L) is commercial fiber from an unknown cultivar supplied by Linificio and Canapificio Nazionale (Bergamo, Italy). (B) is from 5 water-retted Belgium samples. (M) is from 6 dew-retted European harvests. Lower case letters following refer to the following treatments: d: dew-(field-)-retted by Van de Bilt, f: retted by Flaxzyme (Novo Nordisk, Denmark, supplied by H.S.S. Sharma), u: retted by Ultrazym (Novo Nordisk, Denmark), and e: retted by EPM (Genencor International, USA). Fiber (L) l is a low quality commercial grade of fiber. Fiber (L) h is a high quality commercial grade of fiber.
²Not determined. Data adapted from [25–27].