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The
effect of using a fungicide along with bactericide in
the main soaking float on microbial load
Ali Nail
Yapici
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Biga Vocational College,
17200, Biga-Çanakkale/Turkey. E-mail:
yapicin@comu.edu.tr.
Tel: + (90) 286 3162878. Fax: + (90) 286 3163733.
Abbreviations: K-DMDC, Potassium dimethyl
dithiocarbamate; QC, Quarternized compounds; TCMTB,
2-(thiocyanomethylthio) benzothiazole; cfu; colony
forming unit.
Accepted 2 October, 2008 |
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In the studies recently carried out on leather microbiology,
a great deal of attention is paid to the fact that a
considerable amount of fungi exist along with bacteria on
the raw materials and in the pre-tanning processes and that
they both have proteolytic and lypolytic activities. Because
defects caused by fungi that mostly appear in tanning and
post-tanning processes lead to drastic economical losses, it
is important that fungi should be controlled from the
initial steps of the manufacturing stages. To this end,
bactericides with two different compositions (potassium
dimethyl dithiocarbamate and quarternized compounds), and a
fungicide (2-thiocyanomethylthio benzothiazole based)
commonly used in Turkish leather industry were chosen. The
bactericides were added into the main soaking float with and
without different concentrations of fungicide. In each
trial, liquor samples were taken at the end of the main
soaking process and numbers of total aerobic mesophilic
bacteria, the numbers of proteolytic and lypolytic bacteria,
and numbers of total aerobic fungi, the numbers of
proteolytic and lypolytic fungi were separately determined.
When potassium dimethyl dithiocarbamate based bactericide at
a ratio of 0.5% was used together with
2-(thiocyanomethylthio) benzothiazole based fungicide at a
ratio of 0.5% in the main soaking process, it was found out
that it was more effective against bacteria and fungi than
when used alone. With the use of two antimicrobial agents in
the aforesaid concentration, a synergistic effect appeared
and whereas the number of fungi detected in the main soaking
liquor decreased at a considerable level, all of the
bacteria were controlled and so no bacterial growth occurred
on the media.
Key words:
Leather industry, soaking process, bacteria number, fungi
number. |
