Research III - Week 1 - Quarter 4

• Natural dyes and eco-friendly finishing of textile fabrics is gaining popularity because of the consciousness of people in saving the ecology
• Widely available resources in India have encouraged researchers in experimenting on extraction and application of dyes for textile coloration
• Aim of the present experiment

  To standardize a protocol for optimization of pre-treatment, mordanting and dyeing of cotton yarn with African marigold flower petals
• Materials and methods


  1. Myrobolan, pomegranate rind and tamarind hull were utilized in different concentrations for pretreatment

  2. Effect of different mordants and pre-treatment concentrations on colour strength (K/S, L, a* and b*) parameters of the cotton yarn was studied

  3. Optimised pre-treatment concentrations, mordants and dyeing techniques on colourfastness parameters are also presented
• Keywords


  Eco-friendly finishing, Marigold, Mordants, Natural dyeing, Pre-treatments
• Sustainable agriculture is an important global issue to enhance crop yield and soil properties while restraining pesticide use
• Objective of the study

  To assess the effects of long-term application of organic and inorganic fertilizers on tea and rhizosphere soil properties
• Materials and methods


  Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and high-throughput sequencing technology analyses were used to investigate heavy metal contents and microbial community in rhizosphere soil
• Saba bananas are primarily used as a cooking banana variety
• In their immature, green state, Saba bananas are cooked in savory dishes
• Saba bananas can be eaten raw when mature and yellow
• Another popular way to prepare Saba bananas is to slice, simply sautéed in butter and topped with syrup, cream or baked goods
• Another popular use for Saba bananas is making ketchup, or banana sauce, an alternate to tomato ketchup
• Bunches or fingers of 'Saba' ripen unevenly, i.e., some fingers ripen faster than others
• This undesirable characteristic of uneven ripening is a problem for small traders because consumers usually buy bananas that are ready to ripen or at the firm ripe stage
• Ripening agents have often been used to solve this problem
• The most effective ripening agent is ethylene which can ripen bananas in a short period of time
• Commercial ethylene is costly, so 'Saba' traders use acetylene gas or calcium carbide instead
• Acetylene gas or calcium carbide is cheap, easy to use and readily available, but it is flammable, explosive and exudes an objectionable odor
• Another alternative is the use of bioethylene, which can be obtained from natural sources
• The use of fresh leaves of kakawate (Gliricidia sepium), rain tree (Samanea saman Jacq. Prain), and star fruit (Averrhoa carambola) fruits is a common practice in the Philippines for ripening Saba bananas
• Bioethylene can also be obtained from fruits and vegetable peels which give off natural sources of ethylene
• It takes such a long time for Saba bananas to ripen and it ripens unevenly
• Things to remember: Format (Paper)