Antimicrobial activity of cotton fabric treated with Quercus infectoria extract

Cotton fabric has been treated with the tannin-rich extract of Quercus infectoria (QI) plant in combination with alum, copper and ferrous mordants and then tested for antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. QI extract shows good activity at 12% concentration (owf), inhibiting the microbial growth by 45-60%. The microbial growth inhibition increases to 70-90% when alum and copper sulphate are used for mordanting. However, the antimicrobial activity is completely lost when ferrous sulphate is used. The activity of samples treated with QI alone is lost completely after 5 launderings while the mordanted samples retain nearly 100% activity up to 5 launderings, indicating that the mordants help to make the effect durable. The study also shows that the cotton textiles can be successfully treated with QI to produce bioactive textiles from natural ecofriendly materials. QI is a viable alternative to synthetic antimicrobial agents for use in hospital textiles and an effective antiodour agent for use in sports and household textiles.