Termites have played havoc on common woodworks in houses especially at sub-continent regions. In this work, freshly prepared chitosan from Tiger prawn (Paneous Monodon) shells was studied for anti-termite growth on vulnerable Kail wood pieces. Prawn shells were systematically processed through deprotenization, demineralization, decolourization and deacetylation to get granulated chitosan powder. Freshly extracted chitin and chitosan were characterized by FTIR, SEM and XRD studies. Effect of different compositions of chitosan in acetic acid and contact time of termite with wood towards reduction in original weight were studied. Results show that 5 wt% chitosan-coated Kail wood pieces with 20 numbers of termite and contact time for 24 hours exhibit remarkable resistance against termite growth by showing just about 0.53 % weight loss. On the other hand, Kail wood without coating of chitosan shows about 52 % reduction in weight i.e. about half of the wooden material was eaten by termite under similar conditions. This work demonstrates the efficient termicidal effect of freshly prepared chitosan from prawn shells and presents a remarkable development of chitosan as a biotermicide material derived from natural resources
Rimsha Shoukat, Zulfiqar Ali, Riaz Hussain, Mirza Arfan Yawer, Sumaira Naz and Affifa Yawer
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