Rubia cordifolia roots as a raw material for dyeing wool in red colors

Introduction: Indian madder (Rubia cordifolia L.), is an important natural dyeing plant with long history.Rubia belongs to the family Rubiaceae. It is one of the oldest dyeing plant with a source of beautiful andpermanent shades of red. The compounds found in the plant’s roots are an excellent natural dye for dyeingprotein fibres. The ingredients contained in the root of the plant have numerous health-promoting effectson the human body, both internal and external. In this study water extract from the plant roots was tested toobtain different colours on protein fibres.Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the dyeing properties of East Frisian sheep wool by waterextract of Rubia cordifolia roots.Methods: In this research wool from the East Frisian sheep breed were selected and compared the coloursobtained on this wool using six dyeing methods.Results: The results indicate that the type of mordants used affects the intensity and colour of the wool afterdyeing. Wool samples dyed without any treatments and with various mordants show different intensity ofcolour in the red colour range (cinnabar red, brick red, raspberry, tomato red, Tuscan red).Conclusions: Indian Madder Rubia cordifolia plant is an efficient raw material that gives intense colours onwool in range of red.