Dyeing of cotton and silk with eco-friendly dyes extracted from bark of mangrove species Rhizophora mucronata and Ceriops tagal

Abstract

India has a rich biodiversity of plants and it harbours several economically useful plant resources. Hence, the plant kingdom is considered to be treasure-house of diverse natural products. Natural dyes are one such product which can be potentially utilized for the benefit of mankind. Due to the toxic and allergic nature of synthetic dyes, in the present study efforts were made to use natural dyes from the bark of two mangrove tree species viz. Rhizophoramucronata and Ceriopstagal, for dyeing of cotton and silk fabrics. Aqueous extracts of bark along with various chemical and natural mordantswere used to produce different shades of colour ranging from brown, light brown, yellow, black to grey on both cotton and silk fabrics. The present study also revealed colour fastness of the dyed samples and it has been evaluated by washing, rubbing and exposing the fabric to sun light.