Abstract

A NATURAL ANTIOXIDANT TEXTILE DYE FROM DISCARDED BARKS OF FICUS SP.

Saloni Kothari, Shirin Khan and Devangi Chachad*

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Abstract

There are about 89 species of Ficus reported from India (Chaudhary et al., 2012). Ficus religiosa (Peepal) & Ficus benghalensis (Banyan) being the most commonly found opportunistic parasites from this genus, having a very high rate of growth. This is a nuisance as they grow almost everywhere. Especially during monsoon, these plants can create a lot of problems due to large branches and hence are pruned just before the monsoon. This creates a lot of waste which is usually dumped at the dumping grounds or landfills. Therefore, an attempt has been made to use the waste material and extract dyes which can be used as an affordable substitute for synthetic dyes. Synthetic dyes have been used for many decades now and it is well known that these dyes have many side effects for nature and humans, therefore search of a natural substitute is essential. The dyes were extracted by boiling the barks of the above-mentioned trees in a water bath at suitable temperature. The extracted dyes were analysed for their antioxidant activity and were tested on cotton, hemp & wool using six different mordants. Several tests were carried out to check fastness to rubbing, washing, perspiration at BTRA (The Bombay Textile Research Association) and Texan lab (Textile and analytical Laboratory).

Keywords: Ficus religiosa, Ficus benghalensis, Antioxidant activity, Textile dye.