Abstract:

The prevention of discoloration of three kinds of rattan canes, I.e., Calamus simplicifolius, Calamus tetradactylus, Daemonorups margaritae, was discussed in this paper. The pre-treatment, such as extraction of hot water and alcohol-benzene and PEG spread, was used to prevent the rattan canes discoloration. 1 000 and 4 000 molecular weight of PEG was chosen in the experiment. The result showed that the value of L^* and a^* changed remarkably and that of b^* was increased with the extraction pre- treatment by xenon lamp light irradiation for 84 h. The value of L^* was decreased clearly with extraction of hot water, a^* was change slightly and b^* was increased with extraction of hot water and alcohol-benzene. From the point of view of practical uses, the extraction of hot water was better than that of alcohol-benzene. The value of L^*, a^* and b^* of the rattan canes treated with PEG spread was decreased. The influence of the concentration of PEG solution was different with the three of rattan canes and the value of L^*, a^* and b~* between the molecular weight of PEG 1 000 and 4 000 had a small difference. Comparing with the extraction of hot water and PEG spread treatment, it is indicated that the former exceeded the latter. Along with increase of the irradiation time, the L* of the rattan canes treated with PEG spread was increased. It is suggested that extraction of hot water and PEG spread should be used together for the prevention of the rattan canes discoloration in the future.

Key words: rattan, discoloration, prevention