Gauri Goel*, Ruchi Kholiya, Alka Goel
Bast natural fibers have gained importance in recent years owing to their eco-friendliness and their potential availability as raw materials for textile industries. In the present study, the extraction and characterization of fibers from the stem of the malu plant was conducted for possible utilization in textile and home furnishing industries. The results indicated that alkali retted (0.5% NaOH for 10 hours) fibers had superior properties compared to the other methods. It had reasonably good fineness, tenacity, elongation percent, and required less time for extraction.