Microencapsulation of copper enriched herbals for curative garments

Abstract

Curative finish has been imparted to the cotton single jersey knitted fabric using extracts of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Aloe barbadensis </i>Mill<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">.</i>, bitter gourd, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Cuminum cyminum </i>Linn. and ginger by microencapsulation using pad-dry-cure method. Based on the copper content, the above four plants were selected. Microcapsules are produced using herbal extracts as core and gum <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Acacia</i> Willd. as wall material. The presence and the density of microcapsules are analysed by using Scanning Electron Microscopy. The antimicrobial efficacy has been evaluated by agar diffusion (SN 195920). It is observed that the microencapsulated herbal extracts possess a very good resistance for microbes. And the garments made from those encapsulated fabric showed better results in curing skin diseases like scabies, inflammatory skin disease, seasonal skin disease, urticaria and ecgema.