Determination of Optimum Preservative Treatment Time for Green Bamboo using Boucherie Apparatus: Jagriti

The Boucherie Process is one of the processes for preservative treatment of bamboo to enhance its durability. Various authors have reported a treatment time of 3 - 7 hours for 12 long bamboo and 30-60 min to treat short length bamboos using pressures of up to 2 kg/cm2 without mentioning the completion of treatment process. Further literature survey did not reveal any procedure for preservative treatment of bamboos and completion of the treatment process. In the present study the preservative treatment protocol was developed and tested using Boucherie apparatus (Jagriti) on Bambusa pallida using the pressure between 1 to 1.5 kg/cm2. The completion of treatment process was estimated by comparing the Specific gravity of the treating solution and the effluents at an interval of five minutes using the specific gravity bottles. It was found that freshly harvested bamboo of a meter length required only 15-20 minutes for completion of the process at 1 to 1.5 kg/cm2. Longer treatment time was observed due to the presence of particulate matters in the treating solution or on cut surface of bamboo. Post harvest delay also contributed to longer treatment time. There was a significant difference in the treatment time required among the different portions of bamboo and also when the treatment was given 1-2 days after harvest.