|
PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Banana pseduostem fibre or banana fibre is one of the emerging natural fibres having potential industrial application. The softening of these fibres could improve its mechanical properties and thus widen its textile applications. The present study was aimed at softening of banana fibres using enzyme extract of Aspergillus niger. The polygalactouronase and lignin peroxidise activity in enzyme extract was found to be 25 and 0.153 U/ ml respectively. The banana fibres were subjected for biological softening by enzyme treatment (2 and 4 h), culture treatment (48 and 72 h) and anaerobic treatment (72 and 168h).The evaluation of treated fibre for mechanical properties showed that tenacity (g/tex) was higher, 28.4 in anaerobic consortium treated (168 h) while, the average peak elongation (%) was found higher, 2.9 in aerobic crude enzyme treated (2 h) fibre. The crude enzyme and anaerobic treatments were found to improve the surface smoothness of banana fibre than the culture treatment under phase contrast microscopic observations.