Innovative room temperature dyeing of silk with Rubia

Innovative room temperature silk dyeing by Rubia cordifolia natural dye.This is the first report where Rubia stem extract have been shown as a source of natural dye used in conjunction with enzymes. The most important innovation is the development of low temperature (room temperature) dyeing. The above experiments showed that enzymatic treatment can yield good colour strength to silk fabric using Rubia as a dye source and has good potential for commercial dyeing. It is a nontoxic dye. Use of enzymes were deliberate attempt to avoid metal mordanting in silk dyeing as it would make textile dyeing more ecofriendly. The order of reactivity of enzymes in one step process was found to be Protease> Phytase> Xylanase>Amylase >Pectinase. Similarly for two step dyeing process the order of reactivity of enzymes in two step process observed was Protease>Amylase > Xylanase= Pectinase> Phytase. Protease enzyme was the best option in both the cases. Overall it can be concluded that in the case of enzymic treatment, the two step process was better in terms of larger K/S values, Colour coordinate values and dye adherence.