Mycoflora associated with some textiles in Jeddah City

Abstract EN

The Mycoflora of eight different fabrics (natural, synthetic, and blended), collected from warehouses in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, were isolated by different methods; contact plate, dilution, Stomacher, and moisturization that followed by contact plate method.

Twenty three different species were isolated.

Aspergilli were the most dominant (35 %), followed by penicilli and fusaria (13 % each).

The highest fungal count (1932 CFU / cm2) was concomitant with cotton fabrics, even when blended with polyester.

Wool textiles came in the second order of fungal counts (1421 CFU / cm2).

While natural silk fibers, was less susceptible for fungal attack, polyamide textiles had moderate affinity toward fungal colonization.

The influence of some environmental conditions (temperature, growth medium, pH and relative humidity) on the linear growth of 10 representative isolates, that may have health hazards to man (Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, A.

fumigatus, A.

niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Geotrichum sp., Gliocladium atrum, Penicillium chrysogenum, Rhizopus nigricans and Trichoderma viride), were tested.

The cellulytic and proteolytic activities of these fungi indicated that T.

viride, Geotrichum sp.

A.

niger, A.

alternata and P.

chrysogenum were with the highest activities.

Antimycotic activity of two detergents was studied and indicated that the tested fungi responded differently to the detergent type and its concentration.