HERBAL FINISHES ON COTTON FABRIC USING ACORUS CALAMUS (VASAMBU) EXTRACT K.Christie Jennifer 1, R.Pragadheeswari 2, K.Sangeetha 3 1 Phd - Scholar, Department of CDF, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore (India) 2 Assistant Professor of Fashion Design,School Of Continuing Education, TNOU, Chennai (India) 3 Professor,Dept. of Textile and Apparel Design, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore (India) ABSTRACT The application of herbal products on the textile substances is a very new concept. It gives a new direction towards the treatments of various diseases through textile industry.acorus calamus (Sweet flag) and vasambu in local name is a medicinal plant. It is a wetland perennial monocot plant, in which the scented leaves and rhizomes have been traditionally used medicinally against different ailments. In this study, Acorus calamus were investigated through the methanol extract from its leaves and rhizomes. Antimicrobial activity of Acorus Calamus, studied from fresh and dry leaves and as well as from fresh and dry rhizome. Finished fabrics are assessed the effectiveness of the anti microbial property through agar diffusion method which against the micro organisms of Staphylococcus Aureus and Escherichia Coli.The study clearly suggested that A. Calamus rhizomes and leaves have good anti-microorganism property in different timings on cotton fabric. Keywords: Acorus calamus, Extract from Leaves& Rhizomes, Anti-Microbial Assessment I. INTRODUCTION Textiles are indispensable part of human life. They are mainly to cover the human body for protection against all the adversities says Kaplan (2001). Natural textile fibres are more susceptible to attack than synthetic fibres. At the same time human skin supports growth of bacteria, because of its metabolic side products such as acidic and basic perspirations and urine, although it is possible the most important barrier to prevent microorganisms entering the body, denotes mechmet Orhan et al (2007). Awareness about eco friendliness in textiles is one of the important issues in recent times since textiles are used next to skin and are called second skin. Owing to the demands of global consumer the researches are being carried out for new eco friendly processes. Textile finishing is a diversified sector due to the processed raw materials, manufacturing technique and finalized products. Trends in fashion cause continuous changes in colouring and functional finishes says Smith (2006).natural finishes comprises of those substances that are obtained from plants and animals. Natural finishes have many advantages such as non toxic, non irritant, biodegradable, cost effective, easy availability, etc, malik.t et al (2008). Moreover, in the present day world most of us are very conscious about our hygiene and cleanliness. Clothing and textile are a very suitable media for the growth of the micro organisms. They can act as the carriers of some micro organisms such as pathogenic bacteria, odour generating bacteria and mould fungi. Microbial poses danger to both living and non living matters. 1 P a g e
To overcome the above mentioned fact, here the study handles vital finishes with Acorus Calamus to improve antibacterial activity, which helps in reducing the growth of microbes. Acorus calamus finish is given to make the wearer feel cool and the finish plays significant role in anti bacterial activity. The following are the objectives of this study To find out the availability of natural sources To optimize the parameters for finishing To treat the cotton fabric using Acorus Calamus extracts. To study the effect of natural anti microbial finishes. To evaluate the finished samples. II.METHODOLOGY 2.1Selection of Fabric Formation The fabric forming process helps to determine the appearance and texture, the performance during use and care. The process often determines the name of the fabric. Hence, planned to select plain weave for fabrication. In view of all the facts, the selected 40 s count Cotton yarns were woven 100% for the present study. 2.2 Selection of Weaving Structure Plain weave is the simplest form of weaving. It consists of interlacement of warp and weft up and down the entire width of the fabric. Plain weave fabrics are usually reversible and are stronger than the other basic weaves because each thread in each series of yarn supports the consecutive thread of other series. 2.3 Pre treatment of Fabric Pre treatment improves wettability of fabrics thereby facilitates uniform finishing. The aim of preparatory process is the first step towards quality, which removes the starch, natural impurities and natural yellowish grey colouring matter present in fabric and modifies the fabric for follow up process. 2.4 Selection of Source The present investigation aims at developing an Ecofriendly natural antimicrobial finish from an herbal plant of India. Acorus calamus plants were collected from river side in Yercaud Hill, Tamilnadu.fresh leaves and rhizomes were collected, washed thoroughly. Fresh leaves, dry leaves, fresh rhizome and dry rhizome were selected for the study. Fig 1: Acorus Calamus Fresh Leaf Fig 2: Acorus Calamus Dry Leaf 2 P a g e
Fig 3: Acorus Calamus Fresh Rhizome Fig 4: Acorus Calamus Dry Rhizome Fig 5: Acorus Calamus Fresh & Dry Fig 6: Acorus Calamus Fresh & Dry Leaf Powder Rhizome Powder 2.5 Pilot Study Pilot study is preliminary study conducted in a limited scale before the large scale are carried out in order to gain some primary information, on the basis of which the main study would be planned and formulated. A pilot study was carried out in direct water soluble method and methanol extraction method in order to select material, optimize the selected herbs, binder, extraction time, temperature and application techniques. 2.6 Extraction Method The collected leaves and rhizomes of Acorus Calamus plant were shadow dried with in a temperature range of 38-40 degree Celsius. The moisture content of the leaves was reduced with proper drying since most of the herbs have 60-80 % of moisture content and cannot be stored without drying. After drying, a known amount of dry rhizome and dry leaves were powered in a mixer grinder. The fresh leaf and rhizome extracts are made within 4 hours of harvesting. The fresh leaf and rhizome extracts are made by grinding the entire leaf and rhizome. The grinded fresh leaf and rhizome, as well as dry leaf and rhizome powder were mixed with absolute methanol to extract active substances from the sources. 20g of the powder was extracted with 100ml of methanol (analytically grade). The mixture was allowed to stand for 24 hours. The mixture was now filtered and evaporated carefully and the regulated water bath was maintained at the temperature of 80 o c to yield semi-solid extract. It was stored in a refrigerator at 4 o c. 2.7 Finishing The durability of the finish can be enhanced when the herbal extracts of fresh leaf, dry leaf, fresh rhizome and dry rhizome are applied on cotton fabric. The extracted 100% herbal extraction solution is mixed with 1:20 3 P a g e
liquor, the application method was optimized with three different timings (1 hour, 11/2 hours and 2 hours) at 60 degree Celsius. Finishing was applied directly by pad-dry-cure method with binding agent, citric acid,(kumar, 2006). Hence padding mangle was used to finish all the samples. The treated samples were cured in room temperature and dried in shade. Thus, total 12 samples were prepared. III EVALUATION 3.1 Testing the Efficacy Of Anti Microbial Finish Treated samples based on optimized process parameters were tested for their antimicrobial efficacy using standard test, namely agar diffusion method against bacteria cultures of Staphylococcus Aureus and Escherichia coli as per standard procedure cited in literature. 3.2 Nomenclature The nomenclature used for various samples are given in table below. Table-1 S.NO SAMPLE NOMENCLATURE 1. FL FRESH LEAF SAMPLE 2. DL DRY LEAF SAMPLE 3. FR FRESH RHIZOME SAMPLE 4. DR DRY RHIZOME IV RESULT AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Antimicrobial Activity The antimicrobial properties were analysed by using quantitative assessment on cotton samples, which measures the degree of antibacterial activity using agar diffusion method( M.P.Sathianarayanan,2011). Antimicrobial activity of Acorus Calamus extract treated fabrics is shown in table 2. The result clearly shows that the samples treated with extracts of fresh leaves, dry leaves and dry rhizome have better zone of inhibition against both s.aureus and E.coli microrganism.fresh rhizome of Acorus Calamus were found zone of inhibition only on E.coli. Table 2 S.NO SAMPLE VARIOUS TIMING AGAR DIFFUSION TEST- ZONE OF INHIBITION (MM) S.AUREUS E.COLI 1 FL 1 1 HOUR 20 21 2 FL 2 1 ½ HOURS 16 18 3 FL 3 2 HOURS 17 21 4 DL 1 1 HOUR 9 25 4 P a g e
5 DL 2 1 ½ HOURS 16 20 6 DL 3 2 HOURS 26 24 7 FR 1 1 HOUR - 18 8 FR 2 1 ½ HOURS - 19 9 FR 3 2 HOURS - 18 10 DR 1 1 HOUR 17 25 11 DR 2 1 ½ HOURS 20 22 12 DR 3 2 HOURS 28 27 ANTIBACTERIAL ASSESSMENT AGAINST S.AUREUS 5 P a g e
ANTIBACTERIAL ASSESSMENT AGAINST E.COLI V. CONCLUSION Acorus calamus is a natural plant source. It is non toxic, non allergic, biodegradable, cost effective and easily available material. It will not cause any harm to humans even from infants to pregnant women. It smells pleasant and is non irritant to human beings.fresh and dry leaf, fresh and dry rhizome extract has been found to possess antimicrobial character due to the presence of chemical components such as α and β asarone. The active substance was extracted from the plant leaves and rhizomes using methanol. The method of application of this active substance on cotton fabric using citric acid as cross linking agent by padding mangle method. The anti microbial assessment was carried out by using standard test-agar diffusion method. From the research it is be found that there is a good anti bacterial property in the fabric after it has been finished. Fresh leaf, dry leaf and dry rhizome extraction shows better anti bacterial activity on both s.aureus and E.coli.fresh rhizome found property against only in E.coli. Hence, the scope of implementation and commercialization of the herbal extract as an antimicrobial finish in textile is a novel idea. REFERENCES [1] R.Balakumbahan*,K.Rajamani and K.Kumanan, Acorus Calamus: An Overview, Journal of Medicinal Plants Research Vol. 4(25),, 2010, 2740-2745. [2] Kaplan, N.S., Textile Fiber, Abishek Publication, Chandigarh, (2001), P.5 6 P a g e
[3] Mechmet Orhan, Dilet Kut, CenGunesoglue, Use of Triclosan as Anti-bacterial agent in textiles, Indian Journal of fibers and Textiles research, March, Vol.33,, 2007 P.114. [4] Smith, J.L., Textiles Processing (Printing, Dyeing and Finishing), Abhishek Publications, Chandigarh, 1st edition, 2006,122 [5] Malik T And Parmar S, special finishes to garment an overview, www.fibre2fashion.com [6] M.P.Sathianarayanan,B.M.Chaudhari And N.V.Bhat,, Development Of Durable Antibacterial Agent From Ban-Ajwain Seed From Cotton Fabric,Indian Journal Of Fibre & Textile Research,Vol 36,September 2011, 234-35. [7] Kumar,national conference n functional textiles and apparels,january,2,no:1, 2006,20-21. [8] http://siddham.in/vasambu-acorus-calamus 7 P a g e