Abstract

One of the most underutilized plants which are abundantly available in north east India is Tree bean with a variety of uses. The tree legume, commonly known as tree beans is popularly used as food in North East India. It contain good amount of natural colorants which can be can be used for dyeing textiles with medicinal properties. The importance for natural sources is eminent due to the increased awareness created due to most of the adverse effects of synthetic products. In this study, Parkia roxburghii commonly known as tree bean is an underutilized leguminous tree but an important source of natural dye was selected as the main coloring (dye) ingredient and applied on wool fabric. To enhance the coloring capacity, different mordant were used with tree beans (Parkia roxburghii). The extraction was carried out through the conventional extraction method in the aqueous medium. The extract was filtered twice for dyeing of wool fabric. Phyto-chemical analysis was done to confirm the presence of the phytochemical compounds. The dye extract was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for the determination of dominant functional groups. Natural dyeing of wool was carried out with and without mordant, such as aluminum sulfate, ferrous sulfate. Pre, Meta and Post-mordanting techniques were employed. The performances of dyed fabrics were evaluated in terms of color strength K/S values. The fastness properties of dyed fabrics were also measured. The dyed fabric showed various color shades based on the type of mordant used with good colour fastness properties.

Borah, M.P., Thokchom, T., Laishram, P., 2024. Finishing of wool fabrics by using tree beans (Parkia roxburghii) dyes as natural colorants. Research Biotica, 2024, online first.