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Indigofera tinctoria leaf powder as a promising additive to improve indigo fermentation prepared with sukumo (composted Polygonum tinctorium leaves)

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Abstract

Being insoluble in the oxidize form, indigo dye must be solubilized by reduction for it to penetrate textile. One of the procedures is the reduction by natural bacterial fermentation. Sukumo, composted leaves of Polygonum tinctorium, is a natural source of indigo in Japan. Although sukumo has an intrinsic bacterial seed, the onset of indigo reduction with this material may vary greatly. Certain additives improve indigo fermentation. Here, we studied the effects of Indigofera tinctoria leaf powder (LP) on the initiation of indigo reduction, bacterial community, redox potential (ORP), and dyeing intensity in the initial stages and in aged fermentation fluids prepared with sukumo. I. tinctoria LP markedly decreased ORP at day 1 and stabilised it during early fermentation. These effects could be explained by the phytochemicals present in I. tinctoria LP that act as oxygen scavengers and electron mediators. Using next generation sequencing results, we observed differences in the bacterial community in sukumo fermentation treated with I. tinctoria LP, which was not influenced by the bacterial community in I. tinctoria LP per se. The concomitant decrease in Bacillaceae and increase in Proteinivoraceae at the onset of fermentation, increase in the ratio of facultative to obligate anaerobes (F/O ratio), or the total abundance of facultative anaerobes (F) or obligate anaerobes (O) (designated F + O) are vital for the initiation and maintenance of indigo reduction. Hence, I. tinctoria LP improved early indigo reduction by decreasing the ORP and hasten the appropriate transitions in the bacterial community in sukumo fermentation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Institute for Fermentation, Osaka (IFO) (No. G-2020-3-035). We thank Editage (www.editage.com) for English language editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukisamu-Higashi, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo, 062-8517, Japan

    Helena de Fátima Silva Lopes, Zhihao Tu & Isao Yumoto

  2. Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8589, Japan

    Helena de Fátima Silva Lopes & Isao Yumoto

  3. North-Indigo Textile Arts Studio 2-3-9, Matsugae, Otaru, 047-1470, Japan

    Hisako Sumi

  4. Sensing System Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8565, Japan

    Hiromitsu Furukawa

Authors
  1. Helena de Fátima Silva Lopes
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  2. Zhihao Tu
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  3. Hisako Sumi
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  4. Hiromitsu Furukawa
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  5. Isao Yumoto
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Contributions

HFSL, HS, and IY. conceived and designed the experiments. HFSL, ZT and HF performed the experiments. HFSL, ZT, HF and IY analysed the data. HFSL and IY wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Isao Yumoto.

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de Fátima Silva Lopes, H., Tu, Z., Sumi, H. et al. Indigofera tinctoria leaf powder as a promising additive to improve indigo fermentation prepared with sukumo (composted Polygonum tinctorium leaves). World J Microbiol Biotechnol 37, 179 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-021-03142-y

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