Journal of Natural Fibers

ISSN: 1544-0478 (Print) 1544-046X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjnf20

Extraction, Characterization and Enzymatic

Degumming of Banana Fiber

Suresh Kumar Paramasivam, Divya Panneerselvam, Durgadevi Sundaram,

Karur Nallappagounder Shiva & Uma Subbaraya

To cite this article: Suresh Kumar Paramasivam, Divya Panneerselvam, Durgadevi

Sundaram, Karur Nallappagounder Shiva & Uma Subbaraya (2020): Extraction,
Characterization and Enzymatic Degumming of Banana Fiber, Journal of Natural Fibers, DOI:
10.1080/15440478.2020.1764456

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2020.1764456

View supplementary material

Published online: 18 May 2020.

Submit your article to this journal

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=wjnf20
JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS
https://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2020.1764456

Extraction, Characterization and Enzymatic Degumming of Banana

Fiber
Suresh Kumar Paramasivama, Divya Panneerselvama, Durgadevi Sundaramb,
Karur Nallappagounder Shivaa, and Uma Subbarayaa
a
Division of Crop Production and Postharvest technology, ICAR - National Research Centre for Banana,
Tiruchirappalli, India; bDepartment of Biochemistry, Dr. NGP Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, India

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Pseudostem is the major biomass being generated and not utilized after Banana fiber; pseudostem;
harvesting of banana bunches. The present study was aimed to characterize extraction; enzyme;
the banana fiber and to explore the possibilities of improving the quality of degumming; environment
extracted fiber by degumming using enzymes. Fiber from pseudostem of 关键词
five cultivars, viz., Grand Naine (AAA), Red Banana (AAA), Poovan (AAB), 香蕉纤维; 分之一叶; 提取;
Popoulu (AAB) and Karpuravalli (ABB), were extracted using Raspador 酶; 脱胶; 环境
machine. Fibers were treated with pectinase, laccase and combination of
both enzymes at varying concentrations. The highest fiber recovery was
obtained from Karupuravalli (2.49%) and the least was recorded in Grand
Naine (1.10%). Properties like breaking strength, breaking extension, tex
and tenacity were found to be better in Red Banana fiber (975.97 gf, 3.17%,
33.7 tex, 28.40 cN/tex and 180.25 MPa respectively). SEM results revealed
that laccase enzyme was more efficient in improving the surface quality of
fibers followed by pectinase + laccase (25:75). Removal of pectinolytic
substances from intact cells in cell wall of fiber resulted in surface smooth-
ening of banana fiber.

摘要
假茎是香蕉收获后产生和未利用的主要生物量. 研究了香蕉纤维的特性，
探讨了酶法脱胶提高纤维质量的可能性. 采用树莓机提取了5个栽培品种的
假茎纤维，Grand Naine (AAA)、红香蕉(AAA)、普凡(AAB)、波普鲁(AAB)和
卡普拉瓦利(ABB). 以不同浓度的果胶酶、漆酶和两种酶的组合处理纤维.
Karupuravalli纤维回收率最高(2.49%)，Grand Naine纤维回收率最低(1.10%).
红香蕉纤维(975.97 gf、3.17%、33.7 tex、28.40 cN/tex、180.25 MPa)的断裂
强度、断裂伸长率、tex、韧性等性能较好. SEM结果显示漆酶在提高纤维
表面质量方面更有效，其次是果胶酶+漆酶 (25:75). 去除纤维细胞壁完整细
胞中的果胶分解物质，可使香蕉纤维表面光滑.

Introduction
Management of crop residues in eco-friendly and profitable way is one of the major issues in
agriculture. It has been achieved to some extent in crops like sugarcane, wheat, rice and maize,
yet many of the horticultural wastes are left unutilized (Singaraj et al. 2019). Since long time,
plant fibers have been used for versatile applications. Natural fiber from agro-waste exhibit
excellent characteristics like good mechanical strength, stiffness, low density, non-abrasiveness,
high disposability, renewability and are considered to be eco-friendly over synthetic fibers
(Cordeiro et al. 2004). Among the natural fibers, 90 percent are of plant origin and classified
as seed fibers such as cotton, bast/skin fibers like flax, ramie, hemp, banana and jute. Among

CONTACT Suresh Kumar Paramasivam psureshars@gmail.com Tamil Nadu, India

© 2020 Taylor & Francis
2 S. K. PARAMASIVAM ET AL.

them 80 percent of fiber was constituted by cotton and remaining by other long fibers such as
flax, jute, pineapple, hemp, ramie, coir, sisal and banana (Kozlowski and Mackiewicz-Talarczyk
2020).
Among the horticulture crops, banana generates huge volume of biomass after the harvest
of bunches. India is the top most banana cultivator and it has about 0.83 million ha under
banana cultivation. About 50–60 kg of waste needs to be get rid off, for every 30–40 kg of
banana bunch. Worldwide, nearly over 1.2 billion tons/year of banana stems are left to rot
(Mohamad et al. 2019). With the extractable pseudostem fiber yield of 400 kg fibers per
hectare, Rs.3000–4000 crores ($500 million) of fiber in India and 3-4 USD billion worldwide
could be extracted which is otherwise dumped as a waste after harvesting the bunches. The
trunk of banana plant that is pseudostem is thrown as a major agro-waste, which can be
effectively utilized in bulk production of banana fiber (Cecci et al. 2020; Jagadeesh,
Venkatachalam, and Nallakumarasamy 2015). Natural fibers like banana fiber has various
applications in the field of textile, handicrafts, composite boards and paper industry, other
than structural reinforcement in composites materials and a source of cellulose fiber (Cordeiro
et al. 2004; Subagyo and Chafidz 2018).
Among the banana fiber extraction methods (chemical, mechanical and biological meth-
ods), mechanical method is considered to be an efficient mode with 20–30 kg of fiber could
be extracted in a day when compared to 4 kg manually (Uma et al. 2005). But it tend to be an
inefficient mode to remove the gumminess around the fiber surface, while in chemical
method usage of alkali or synthetic detergents cause the fiber to lose its physical character-
istics namely surface fibrillation, dull form and loss of tensile strength other than creating
havoc by environmental pollution (Ahirwar, Rani, and Behera 2019; Khan, Yilmaz, and
Yilmaz 2019). Biological methods by retting process yield good quality fiber than the other
two methods, but it is a tedious, time-consuming process and requires more water (Jacob and
Prema 2008).
Therefore, degumming becomes an essential process to be carried out after fiber extraction. This
process involves cleavage of peptide bonds through enzymatic, chemical or hydrolytic catalysis by
solubilization or dispersion to get rid of rough and hard polysaccharides present in the fibers (Kim,
Kwon, and Kim 2016). There is a great demand for exclusion of heavily coated gummy material
around fibers through enzymes such as ligninases, xylanses, pectinases, cellulases and laccases (Beg
et al. 2000; Bruhlmann et al. 2000; Kashyap et al. 2001).
India is the land of more than 100 different cultivars and land areas belonging to diploid,
triploids and tetraploid. It is generally believed that the fiber quality varies with different genome
of bananas (Divya et al. 2016). The importance of banana fiber for its versatile applications has
been under exploited due to lack of systematic research on structural and physical properties of
the fiber. Similarly, reports are scanty on degumming of banana fibers using enzymes and
applying it for industrial process in future. Keeping the points in mind, this study focuses on
mechanical extraction of fiber from banana pseudostem of different cultivars using a low cost,
user friendly fiber extractor, characterization of extracted fibers followed by investigation on
enzymatic degumming on fiber quality.

Materials
Fresh pseudostem of five cultivars viz, Grand Naine (AAA), Red Banana (AAA), Poovan (AAB),
Popoulu (AAB) and Karpuravalli (ABB) were brought from the experimental farm of ICAR-
National Research Center for Banana (ICAR-NRCB), Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India.
Commercial Pectinase from Aspergillus niger and Laccase from Aspergillus spp was procured from
Sigma Aldrich, USA. All other analytical grade chemicals were purchased from Sigma Aldrich and
Merck Ltd (India).
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 3

Methods
Extraction of fiber
The tapering top and the broad bottom end of the pseudostem were removed and the cylindrical part of
the stem was used for the extraction of fiber. Pseudostem was split into two halves and the sheaths were
removed layer by layer. The thin margin of the sheaths was removed using knife. The sheath (three
fourth) were then fed into the raspador machine and pulled back slowly. Another part was subsequently
fed and the fiber was extracted. The extracted fibers were allowed to dry in shade for 2–3 hrs.

Enzymatic degumming of banana fiber

Based on the physical and chemical characteristics, two cultivars were chosen for standardization of
degumming process.
For each treatment, 5.0 g of banana fiber was taken and incubated with 100 ml, (1:25 (w/v)) of
different combination of enzymatic solutions (Table 1). The mixture was shook at 150 rpm for 2 h
using orbital shaker (ORBITEK, Scigenics India Pvt Ltd), then the liquid was drained off and the
fiber was dried at room temperature.

Moisture and ash content

To characterize the quality of fiber, moisture content was estimated using hot air oven at 80°C for
6 h by using AOAC method. Ash refers to the inorganic residue remaining after either ignition or
complete oxidation of organic matter in stuff. The ash content was analyzed using muffle furnace
and burning the samples at 600°C for 5 h (AOAC, 2005).

Mechanical characterization of fiber

The quality evaluation of extracted fiber was performed for the mechanical properties such as tex,
tenacity (CN/tex), mean breaking strength (gf), mean breaking elongation (%) and density (g/cc)
(Ortega et al. 2016). Strength of both treated and untreated fibers was measured using Instron tensile
testing machine, Norwood (4302) according to ASTM D3822-01. The gauze length was fixed at
25 mm and the speed was 3 mm/min. The load cell used was 50 kN. The average of 50 specimens
was measured and the average value was presented.

Chemical characterization of fiber

According to Sadasivam and Manickam (1996), chemical composition like cellulose, hemicellulose,
lignin, wax and pectin content of extracted fibers was determined and the content was expressed in
percentage.

Table 1. Enzymes used in different ratios for degumming.

Treatments Enzymes (U/ml) Ratio of enzyme used in degumming process
T1 Pectinase 100
T2 Laccase 100
T3 Pectinase + Laccase 25:75
T4 Pectinase + Laccase 50:50
4 S. K. PARAMASIVAM ET AL.

Surface morphology of fiber

The surface characterization of the extracted fiber was examined using scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) to evaluate the property of fiber in micron and submicron level and to determine whether the
lignin was completely removed from the surface of fibers. Fiber was sputtered with gold at 30 KV
and the coated samples were observed under (TESCAN VEGA3, Czech Republic) with an accelerat-
ing voltage of 10.0 KV using thermionic emission gun under vacuum, 1 × 10−3 Pa.

Statistical analysis
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out on the data to test for differences between the
treatments using SPSS software. The significant difference between treatments means were compared
with the least significant differences (LSD) at a 5% level of probability (P ≤ 0.05). The difference
between two treatment means which were higher than the respective LSD values were considered as
significant.

Results and discussion

Extraction and characterization of banana pseudostem fibers
Fresh banana pseudostem of five cultivars viz, Popoulu (AAB), Grand Naine (AAA), Poovan
(AAB), Red Banana (AAA) and Karpuravalli (ABB) were collected for the fiber extraction.
Physical characteristics of banana pseudostem of different cultivars displayed that the mean of
fiber extractable pseudostem weight varied between 21.52 and 34.0 kg (Table 2). Popoulu
recorded the highest weight (34 kg) followed by Grand Naine and Red banana. Poovan recorded
the lowest weight (22.3 kg). Similarly, Popoulu scored the highest value for the pseudostem length
(251.5 cm) followed by Karpuravalli (194.5 cm). Varieties differed on the thickness of pseudos-
tem. Higher thickness (8.40 mm) was observed at the bottom part of pseudostem in popoulu
whereas Grand Naine (7.09 mm) recorded the most on the top. Lower thickness was observed
with karupuravalli (4.75 mm). The relative combination of A and B genomes contributes greatly
to the plant biomass production (Divya et al. 2016). The weight of the pseudostem depend on the
ploidy level of the banana, which may be diploid (2X), triploid (3X) or a tetraploid (4X). Triploids
and tetraploids by virtue of their higher ploidy level tend to be more vigorous and gigantic, thus
producing more biomass compared to delicate and slim diploids. In general, B genome tends to
be strong and bulky contributing for its enhanced biomass (Preethi and Balakrishna Murthy 2013;
Uma et al. 2005).
The fiber extractable pseudostem sheath and fiber yield exhibited the following order: Popoulu
(45.47, 2.1); Grand Naine (46.43, 1.8); Red Banana 46.14, 1.5); Poovan (44.71, 1.2); and Karpuravalli
(50.17, 2.4) as shown in Figure 1. Among the different cultivars, Karpuravalli and Red banana
recorded more fiber extractable pseudostem along with higher fiber recovery.
The mechanical properties of the extracted fibers are presented in Table 3. Tenacity of Red
banana (28.40 cN/tex) was quite high. Enzyme treated ramie fiber, showed tenacity of (17.85 cN/tex)

Table 2. Physical characteristics for different cultivars of banana pseudostem.

Breadth (cm) Thickness (mm)
Cultivars Weight (Kg) Length (cm) Top Mid Bottom Top Mid Bottom
Popoulu 33.6 ± 5.51 251.5 ± 22.4 23.5 ± 4.35 24.3 ± 5.37 32.5 ± 2.36 5.12 ± 1.23 6.28 ± 3.45 8.40 ± 2.67
Grand Naine 31.7 ± 2.01 193.1 ± 18.03 22.0 ± 1.02 23.3 ± 2.01 28.5 ± 3.01 7.09 ± 4.78 8.86 ± 2.34 10.9 ± 2.35
Poovan 22.52 ± 1.25 179.6 ± 17.40 17.9 ± 2.05 18.7 ± 2.01 23.8 ± 5.03 6.09 ± 5.04 7.55 ± 2.34 9.56 ± 3.05
Red Banana 28.2 ± 3.03 168 ± 15.01 18.5 ± 2.01 19.0 ± 1.03 24.0 ± 4.02 5.01 ± 6.07 6.8 ± 1.26 9.5 ± 1.35
Karpuravalli 27.71 ± 2.51 194.5 ± 15.12 22.1 ± 3.04 25.3 ± 5.02 30.6 ± 2.04 4.75 ± 7.03 6.9 ± 2.76 8.8 ± 1.34
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 5

52 3
Fibre Extractable pseudostem

50 Fibre Yield 2.5

48 2
%

%
46 1.5

44 1

42 0.5

40 0
Popoulu Grand Naine Poovan Red Banana Karpuravalli

Figure 1. The yield percentage (%) for fiber extractable from different cultivars of pseudostem and its yield of fiber content.

Table 3. Mechanical characteristics for pseudostem fiber extracted from different cultivars.
Linear density Mean breaking strength Mean breaking Tenacity Young’s Modulus Density
Cultivars (Tex) Fmax (gf) elongation % (cN/Tex) Emod (MPa) (g/cc)
Popoulu 28.1 ± 0.23 714.6 ± 0.12 1.52 ± 0.01 25.95 ± 0.32 324.6 ± 0.18 1.35 ± 0.09
Grand 27.9 ± 0.34 758.9 ± 0.01 4.44 ± 0.04 26.4 ± 0.26 130.55 ± 0.06 1.26 ± 0.05
Naine
Poovan 26.3 ± 0.12 726.2 ± 0.23 2.26 ± 0.45 27.19 ± 0.12 228.22 ± 0.19 1.34 ± 0.31
Red 33.6 ± 0.45 975.9 ± 0.05 3.18 ± 0.05 28.4 ± 0.13 180.2 ± 0.09 1.35 ± 0.21
Banana
Karpuravalli 26.7 ± 0.28 717.9 ± 0.09 2.27 ± 0.09 26.4 ± 0.23 206.0 ± 0.06 1.35 ± 0.05

(Biswas et al. 2016) which was less when compared to present study. Energy to break point was
higher for red banana (975.97 gf) which indicated that more energy was needed to break the fiber.
Higher tenacity and energy to break point make Red banana fiber could be used in making of yarn
and flexible, stiffer materials like currency notes. Young modulus of Popoulu fibers was higher
(324.64 MPa) followed by Red banana (228.22 MPa). Higher young modulus revealed that these
fibers could be used in composite materials, handicrafts and spinning purposes.
Chemical composition of fibers decides its applications in various fields (Kim, Kwon, and Kim
2016). Cellulose is the major component of the bast fibers like ramie, hemp and banana. The highest
cellulose content was recorded in Karpuravalli (55.84%) followed by Poovan and Popoulu fiber
(54.57% and 52.47%). The non-cellulosic substances which includes hemicellulose, lignin and pectin
were also higher in Karpuravalli (15.75, 20.16 and 3.78%) followed by Grand Naine (15.91, 19.17 and
3.46%) (Figure 2).

Degumming of banana fibers

Banana fibers obtained after the different degumming treatments was evaluated for the physical,
chemical and mechanical properties so as to ascertain the effect of enzyme activity on the quality of
treated fibers (Figure 3). It was found that the moisture content of the treated fibers has increased,
whereas the ash content has decreased when compared to untreated fibers. This indicated that the
removal of non-cellulosic part of fibers would have increased the moisture absorption with the
reduced ash content. Among the treatments, the moisture content for Red banana fiber displayed in
6 S. K. PARAMASIVAM ET AL.

Figure 2. Chemical composition of extracted fiber.

(a) (b) ( c) ( d)

(e) (f) (g) (h)

Figure 3. Segregation of fiber after degumming process (a), (b), (c) and (d) (T1-T4) are different enzymatic treatments in Red
Banana variety and (e), (f), (g) and (h) (T1-T4) are treatments followed in Popoulu variety.

the following order; Pectinase ˃ pectinase + laccase (25:75) ˃ pectinase + laccase (50:50) ˃ Laccase)
whereas Popoulu found to have higher moisture content (11%) in Laccase treated fiber. Moisture has
important effects on the physical properties of fibers, particularly tensile properties.
Red Banana and Popoulu fiber found to have lower ash content of 1.99 and 3.67% respectively (Figure 4).
Plant fiber cells are mostly surrounded by sieve elements, companion cells, parenchyma of rays, bark and
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 7

Figure 4. (a) Moisture content of degummed fiber. (b) Ash content of degummed fiber.

mesophyll which are thin walled tissues (Biswas et al. 2016). Generally, mechanical decortication by
raspodar machine which breaks the thin walled tissues thereby releasing fiber bundles of varying dimen-
sions. Residual cell wall fragments (mainly pectin and lignin) remain on the surface of the fiber bundles,
leaving behind a pattern of imprints of the neighboring cells. To improve the fiber quality, additional
refining procedures are required, that is, splitting fiber bundles into finer units, ideally into individual fiber
cells and cleaning the fiber surface (Chauhan and Sharma 2014). Degumming process will enhance the
hydrophilic nature of surface, due to removal of gummy materials around the fiber. This reaction is
proportionally to the dosage of enzyme used in the reaction mixture (Teli and Rane 2011). In contrast,
when degumming was executed by alkali method the fibers were in erratic condition and thus lesser water
absorbance (Kim, Kwon, and Kim 2016).
The mechanical properties of the treated fibers are presented in Table 4. It revealed that
enzymatic treatments decreased the mechanical properties of fiber due to the intensive cleaning
process. The fi It surface appeared cleaner with the highest concentration of enzymes, led to the
defibrillation of the fibres into the cellulosic microfibrils, a fact which explains about the reduction in
stiffness. Comparatively, T2 (Laccase) showed better results with Stiffness (Young’s Modulus—Red
Banana—128.78 MPa, Popoulu—114.33 MPa) and fineness was found to be better with T1
(Pectinase) (Tex—Red Banana—26, Popoulu—25.83). The chemical composition of treated fibers
exhibited that the hemicellulose, pectin and lignin content was lower when compared to untreated
fibers, which indicated that the gummy material that binds the fibers (hemicellulose, pectin and
lignin) was removed due to the action of enzyme on the substrates.
SEM studies revealed that the fiber cells were observed to be intact in the control whereas the
cells were separated in the treated sample fibers as shown in Figure 5. Among the treatments,

Table 4. Mechanical characteristics for degummed fibers from selected cultivars.

Linear Mean breaking Mean breaking Tenacity Young’s Modulus
Cultivars Treatments density (Tex) strength Fmax (gf) elongation % (cN/Tex) Emod (MPa)
Red Banana Pectinase 25.3 ± 0.5 379.9 ± 0.09 1.7 ± 0.05 14.6 ± 0.01 106.7 ± 0.03
Laccase 19.3 ± 0.1 291.0 ± 0.02 1.7 ± 0.01 15.2 ± 0.04 128.7 ± 0.04
Pectinase + 18.6 ± 0.35 455.3 ± 0.15 2.1 ± 0.01 24.0 ± 0.04 106.6 ± 0.03
Laccase (25:75)
Pectinase + 7.8 ± 0.14 171.5 ± 0.18 1.4 ± 0.01 22.6 ± 0.02 82.0 ± 0.02
Laccase (50:50)
Popoulu Pectinase 25.8 ± 0.01 283.6 ± 0.13 1.3 ± 0.02 10.94 ± 0.03 109.5 ± 0.05
Laccase 15.8 ± 0.01 302.38 ± 0.16 1.5 ± 0.01 11.4 ± 0.26 114.4 ± 0.11
Pectinase + 17.8 ± 0.12 355.0 ± 0.03 1.5 ± 0.01 18.73 ± 0.01 88.1 ± 0.02
Laccase (25:75)
Pectinase + 19.5 ± 0.05 340.0 ± 0.02 1.7 ± 0.07 17.3 ± 0.01 96.7 ± 0.01
Laccase (50:50)
8 S. K. PARAMASIVAM ET AL.

Red Banana Popoulu

Control
(T1)

Pectinase
(T2)

Laccase
(T3)

Pectinase
+
Laccase (T4)

Pectinase
+
Laccase (T5)

Figure 5. SEM image of degummed banana fiber using different treatments on Red Banana and Popoulu variety.
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 9

Laccase (T2) was found to show better surface quality of the fibers in both the cultivars, followed by
pectinase + laccase (25:75). The enzymatic methods seem to be a promising technique for degum-
ming in order to remove the unnecessary binders by activating natural bonding between lignocel-
lulosic compounds in the fiber (Basu et al. 2009). This newer concepts work based on the action of
oxidoreductase enzyme such as laccase, which catalyzed the bonding between lignocellulosic mate-
rials. Nakpathom, Somboon, and Narumol (2009) on enzymatic degumming of silk confirmed that
5% papain was enough for the removal of sericin from silk fibroin to obtain softer and better quality
fiber.

Conclusion
Different cultivars of banana studied in this investigation are the potential source for the extraction
of banana fiber. The physical characterization revealed that banana fibers are a good source and
potentially could be used in textile and composite industries. Red banana has the highest fiber
quality than the other cultivars. The fiber extractable pseudostem sheath (45.47%) and fiber yield
(2.1%) was more with popoulu. With the growing environmental concerns, use of green processes by
utilization of enzymes will be better utilized in the textile and other fiber related industries. The
degumming agents are a decisive factor affecting the qualities of fabrics, including handling and
luster. Treatment of machine-extracted banana fiber with enzymes such/as pectinase, laccase under
optimized conditions has resulted in producing better quality fibers. Laccase enzyme exhibited the
efficient role in improving the surface quality of fibers by better stiffness when compared to other
methods of degumming. This also paves way to improve the market value of the pseudostem waste
generated by utilizing them for various industrial applications.

Funding
This work was financially supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India & ICAR, New Delhi,
India.

References
Ahirwar, M., K. Rani, and B. K. Behera. 2019. Optimization of alkaline degumming process of hemp fibers. Journal of
Natural Fibers 1–7. doi:10.1080/15440478.2019.1697991.
AOAC. 2005. Determination of Moisture, Ash, Protein and Fat. Official Method of Analysis of the Association of
Analytical Chemists. 18th Edition, AOAC, Washington DC.
Basu, S., M. N. Saha, D. Chattopadhyay, and K. Chakrabarti. 2009. Large-scale degumming of ramie fiber using
a newly isolated Bacillus pumilus DKS1 with high pectate lyase activity. Journal of Industrial Microbiology &
Biotechnology 36 (2):239–45. doi:10.1007/s10295-008-0490-y.
Beg, Q. K., B. Bhushan, M. Kapoor, and G. S. Hoondal. 2000. Production and characterization of thermostable
xylanase and pectinase from Streptomyces sp. QG-11-3. Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology 24
(6):396–402. doi:10.1038/sj.jim.7000010.
Biswas, D., S. K. Chakrabarti, S. De, and R. Paral. 2016. Eco-friendly degumming technology for ramie fiber. Journal of
Natural Fibers 13 (2):227–37. doi:10.1080/15440478.2015.1005327.
Bruhlmann, F., M. Leupin, K. H. Erismann, and A. Fiechter. 2000. Enzymatic degumming of ramie bast fibers. Journal
of Biotechnology 76 (1):43–50. doi:10.1016/S0168-1656(99)00175-3.c.
Cecci, R. R. R., A. A. Passos, T. C. de Aguiar Neto, and L. A. Silva. 2020. Banana pseudostem fibers characterization
and comparison with reported data on jute and sisal fibers. SN Applied Sciences 2 (1):20. doi:10.1007/s42452-019-
1790-8.
Chauhan, S., and A. K. Sharma. 2014. Utilization of pectinases for fiber extraction from banana plant’s waste.
International Journal of Waste Resources 4 (162):2. doi:10.4172/2252-5211.1000162.
Cordeiro, N., M. N. Belgacem, I. C. Torres, and J. C. V. P. Moura. 2004. Chemical composition and pulping of banana
pseudo-stems. Industrial Crops and Products 19 (2):147–54. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2003.09.001.
Divya, M. Y., B. V. K. Bhagavan, M. M. Naidu, and P. Subbaramamma. 2016. Studies on fiber yield of different
genomic groups of banana. Plant Archives 16(2):946–48. http://www.plantarchives.org/PDF162/946-948.pdf
10 S. K. PARAMASIVAM ET AL.

Jacob, N., and P. Prema. 2008. Novel process for the simultaneous extraction and degumming of banana fibers under
solid-state cultivation. Brazilian Journal of Microbiology 39 (1):115–21. doi:10.1590/S1517-83822008000100025.
Jagadeesh, D., R. Venkatachalam, and G. Nallakumarasamy. 2015. Characterisation of banana fiber-a review. Journal of
Environmental Nanotechnology 4 (2):23–26. doi:10.13074/jent.2015.06.152154.
Kashyap, D. R., P. K. Vohra, S. Chopra, and R. Tewar. 2001. Applications of pectinases in the commercial sector: A
review. Bioresource Technology 77 (3):215–27. doi:10.1016/s0960-8524(00)00118-8.
Khan, G. A., N. D. Yilmaz, and K. Yilmaz. 2019. Effects of chemical treatments and degumming methods on physical
and mechanical properties of okra bast and corn husk fibers. The Journal of the Textile Institute 1–18. doi:10.1080/
00405000.2019.1702492.
Kim, J., M. Kwon, and S. Kim. 2016. Biological degumming of silk fabrics with proteolytic enzymes. Journal of Natural
Fibers 13 (6):629–39. doi:10.1080/15440478.2015.1093578.
Kozlowski, R. M., and M. Mackiewicz-Talarczyk (2020). Handbook of natural fibers: Volume 1: Types, properties and
factors affecting breeding and cultivation, Woodhead Publishing. https://www.elsevier.com/books/handbook-of-
natural-fibers/kozlowski/978-0-12-818398-4.
Mohamad, N., M. T. Lakhiar, A. A. A. Samad, M. A. O. Mydin, A. A. Jhatial, S. A. Sofia, and N. Ali. 2019. Innovative
and sustainable green concrete – A potential review on utilization of agricultural waste. In IOP Conference Series:
Materials Science and Engineering 601(1):012026. IOP Publishing. doi:10.1088/1757-899X/601/1/012026.
Nakpathom, M., B. Somboon, and N. Narumol. 2009. Papain enzymatic degumming of Thai Bombyx mori silk fibers.
Journal of Microscopy Society of Thailand 23 (1):142–46. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228483054.
Ortega, Z., M. Moron, M. D. Monzón, P. Badallo, and R. Paz. 2016. Production of banana fiber yarns for technical
textile reinforced composites. Materials 9 (5):370. doi:10.3390/ma9050370.
Preethi, P., and G. Balakrishna Murthy. 2013. Physical and chemical properties of banana fiber extracted from
commercial banana cultivars grown in Tamilnadu State. Agrotechnology 8 (2):1–3. doi:10.4172/2168-9881.s11-008.
Sadasivam, S., and A. Manickam. 1996. Biochemical methods. 2nd ed. New Delhi, India: New Age International
Limited Publishers.
Singaraj, S. P., K. P. Aaron, K. Kaliappa, K. Kattaiya, and M. Ranganathan. 2019. Investigations on Structural,
Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Banana Fabrics for Use in Leather Goods Application. Journal of Natural
Fibers 1–11. doi:10.1080/15440478.2019.1697982.
Subagyo, A., and A. Chafidz (2018). Banana pseudo-stem fiber: Preparation, characteristics, and applications. In
Banana Nutrition-Function and Processing Kinetics. IntechOpen. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.82204.
Teli, M. D., and V. M. Rane. 2011. Comparative study of the degumming of Mulberry, Muga, Tasar and Ericream silk.
Fibers & Textiles in Eastern Europe 19 (2):10–14. http://www.fibtex.lodz.pl/pliki/Fibtex(onia95nt6jpeyajj).pdf.
Uma, S., S. Kalpana, S. Sathiamoorthy, and V. Kumar (2005). Evaluation of commercial cultivars of banana for their
suitability to fiber industry. https://krishi.icar.gov.in/jspui/bitstream/123456789/2539/1/IN050668_eng.pdf.