Study of Antimicrobial Properties of Fabrics Treated with Ocimum Sanctum L (tulsi) Extract as a Natural Active Agent

The present study was aimed at development of microbial resistant textile product using a natural bioactive agent. Ocimum sanctum leaf extract was applied on cotton and polyester/cotton blended fabrics for imparting antibacterial properties to the textile product for health care applications. The fabrics were treated with herbal extract of different concentrations, along with glutaraldehyde as cross-linking agent and sodium hypophosphite as catalyst by exhaust method. Antimicrobial assessment was performed quantitatively by percentage reduction test (AATCC-147-1998) against test organisms gram-positive bacteria staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538) and gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli (ATCC 11230). The results provided evidence that the treated fabric inhibited the growth of gram-positive bacteria by more than 92% as compared to the control samples. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis confirmed the presence of eugenol in Ocimum sanctum extract. Although, the treated fabrics showed enhanced crease recovery property, there was a marginal reduction in tensile properties. Improvement in crease recovery property of treated blended fabric was slightly less as compared to treated cotton fabric. The antimicrobial treatment negatively affects the bending properties and this negative effect was found to be slightly less for blended fabric as compared to pure cotton fabric.