Table 2 - Enzymological characterization of pineapple extract for potential application in oak tasar (Antheraea proylei J.) silk cocoon cooking and reeling

Table 2: Results of experimental study on the applicability of pineapple extract in oak tasar (Antheraea proylei J.) cocoon cooking and reeling¹.

Initial cocoon treatment	30 min boiling in distilled water
Soaking	Soaked in distilled water at room temperature (26-31ºC)	Soaked in distilled water at 60ºC	Soaked in pineapple extract at room temperature (26-31ºC)	Soaked in pineapple extract at 60ºC	Soaked in pineapple extract with 9.8 mM sodium carbonate at room temperature (26-31ºC)	Soaked in pineapple extract with 9.8 mM sodium carbonate at 60ºC
Soaking time (hr)	20	4	20	4	6	0.5
Number of ends feeding / cocoon²	No single filament reeling could be performed due to lack of minimal softening of the cocoon	No single filament reeling could be performed due to lack of minimal softening of the cocoon	7.3	7.1	6.7	6.0
Filament length (m)³			679.9	790.0	703.1	854.7
Recovery %⁴			57.6	60.6	61.0	64.7
NBFL (m)⁵			93.1	111.4	104.8	142.7
Reelability %⁶			13.7	14.1	14.9	16.7

¹The single silk filament reeling was performed on an epprouvette machine in the Reeling Section, Regional Tasar Research Station, Imphal, India. Each value in the table is an average of fifteen replications.
²Number of ends feeding / cocoon = Number of breaks encountered by a cocoon while reeling
³Filament length (m) = Length of reeled silk filament per cocoon in meters
⁴Recovery % = (Filament weight / Cocoon shell weight) x 100
⁵NBFL (m) = (Filament length in meters x Reelability %) / 100 (Lee, 1999)
⁶Reelability % = (Number of reeled cocoons / Number of ends feeding) x 100 (Lee, 1999)

Soaking