Evaluation of the effect of Beetroot Dye on Banana Pseudo Stem and Pineapple Leaves Fibres

Extraction and characterization of dye from beetroot scientifically known as Beta vulgaris was achieved. The dye was extracted using two extraction method namely Soxhlet with methanol as solvent and water where the beetroot powder was soaked in water and heat at 30-400C for 2 hours. It was observed that due to instability of beetroot dye at high temperature, aqueous dye extraction is preferable over Soxhlet extraction as the one extracted with Soxhlet changed its color from purple to black brown. Moreso, the extracted dye was characterized. Qualitative photochemical analysis, Anti-bacterial activities, Fourier Transformer Infrared, Ultra Violet Spectroscopy are the analysis conducted. The photochemical analysis revealed the presence of Saponin, Flavonoids, Phenols, Betacyanin with the absence of Tanin and Glycosides. The anti-microbial activities of the dye was conducted using to microorganism namely, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus with Muller-Hinton Agar. The dye showed antimicrobial activities on Escherichia coli while it could not show any antimicrobial activities on Staphylococcus aureus microorganism. Also, UV-visible spectrum of the dye was conducted and the results showed the presence of betacyanins which are major compounds found in beetroot dye the major one being betanin. The presence of betanin in the dye was also confirmed by the FTIR as well as gas chromatography. Betanin is a major compound found in beetroot which is soluble in water due to the presence of polar groups such as COOH, OH, and NH2, thus the beetroot extract is a dye and not a pigment. Furthermore, dyeing of the extracted dye to treated banana pseudo stem and pineapple leaves fibres shows that it is feasible and the color fastness test conducted shows that both aluminum ammonium sulphate and aluminum acetate mordants can be used separately in simultaneous mordanting methods. Keywords: Beetroot, Extraction, Characterization, Dye, Banana pseudo-stem and pineapple leaves fibres and color fastness.