Antimoth finishing treatment for woollens using tannin containing natural dyes

Abstract

Attempts have been made to develop natural dye based antimoth finishing process using natural dyes as an alternative of  chemical based process. Natural dyes obtained from different sources are used to dye the woollen fabric and then screened for antimoth efficacy. Woollen fabrics dyed with extract of silver oak leaves, wall nut husk and pomegranate rind have shown highest resistance to moth attack. The screened sources carrying antimoth property are then subjected to phytochemical analysis along with non-carrying natural dyes for analyzing their chemical constituents. The result reveals that the chemical constituent of natural dyes plays a crucial role in determining antimoth efficacy. The amount of tannin content present in the natural dyes can be taken as an indicator to determine the antimoth efficacy.