absorbed water is expected to increase with decreasing particle size as shown for hemp core in Fig. 10 in which the commercial product (total) shows a higher water absorption than large particles and less water absorption than smaller particles extracted from it. The particles size distribution of the commercial product can be found in Fig. 7. The WAR was determined of commercial woody hemp core bedding mate rial and fractions obtained with different particle sizes. The absorption of hemp core increases with decreasing particle size, but the differences in water retention are smaller at higher centrifuge speeds. So the higher absorption capacity of the large kenaf particles must be due to a different composition and structure of that particular material.