Effect of Okra Plant Lifespan upon Optical Properties of Okra Fibers

Abstract

The present research study has been made to identify the effect of the okra plant lifespan upon the optical appearance of the yielded fibers. 90 ± 10 days, 120 ± 10 days, and 160 ± 10 days matured crop waste were subjected to two different retting conditions. For this study, stagnant water retting conditions and running water retting conditions were approached. Optical properties such as whiteness index, yellowness index, and brightness index of yielded okra fibers were measured by spectrophotometer. The study revealed that for both the retting conditions, the whiteness and the brightness index increased with the retting period up to a certain level, i.e., approximately 5–15% improvement for the whiteness index while approximately 10–40% improvement for the brightness index. While the yellowness index mostly showed a reverse effect with the retting period. The reduction in the yellowness index was approximately 2–7%. However, the effect of the retting period got saturated after a certain retting period, i.e., in between 17 and 25 days. Okra fiber yielded from both 90 ± 10 days and 120 ± 10 days matured okra plants showed similar optical properties, but better whiteness index than fiber yielded from 160 ± 10 days matured okra plants. In this research study, similar optical properties were observed for the fibers yielded from both the retting conditions.

Keywords

• okra plant
• okra fiber
• retting
• yellowness index
• whiteness index
• brightness index