ANTIBACTERIAL EFFICACY OF COTTON AND SILK FABRIC FINISHED WITH PLANTS EXTRACTS

Textile industry, continuously searches for new technologies in order to accomplish the consumers’ demands. Recently new developments allowed the production of functional and smart textiles which are capable of sensing changes in environmental conditions or body functions and responding to these changes (Singh et al., 2005). Likewise, consumers’ attitude towards hygiene and active lifestyle has created a rapidly increasing market for a wide range of textile products finished with antimicrobial properties, which in turn has stimulated intensive research and development (Ramachandran et al., 2004). Bacterial growth on the textiles can be inhibited by applying the antimicrobial finish. Antimicrobial finish can be applied with chemical and natural botanical antimicrobial agents Most of the people discard the underutilized parts of plants and only a few reuse them. Underutilized parts of plants means the parts used less than fully or below the potential and not used as much as it could be. The discarded or left over portions of the plant like seed, peels and skins can be reused for both environment and economic benefits. These parts can also be used to create value added products. Thus, it is prudent to use the peel of onion and pomegranates were selected for preparation of plant extracts for bacterial resistance on cotton and silk fabric.