SCIENTIFIC EVALUATION OF USING HABAT ALBARAKA (NIGELLA SATIVA L.) AGAINST MICROORGANISMS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL PARCHMENT AND LEATHER ARTIFACTS

In Egypt, parchment manuscripts and tanned leathers artifacts in public and private libraries, archives, museums and store houses of museums are susceptible for the growth of fungi, and this may due to the improper factors such as extreme temperature, relative humidity, high light levels and etc. this study aims to isolate and identify fungi from different locations in Egypt; and to evaluate the efficiency of Habat Albaraka (Nigella sativa L.) as a natural extract of oil fungicide used against microorganisms which isolated from historical parchment and leather samples and follows the improvements or changes of selected parchment and leather properties. As it is the first time to use it in the field of conservation of the historical manuscripts. Radial growth, change of color by spectrophotometer, mechanical properties (tensile strength and elongation) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) were used for the evaluation of efficiency of Habat Albaraka used as a natural extract of oil- less toxic antifungal agent. The results showed that the most dominant fungi were Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus sulphureus. The results proved that Habat Albaraka used prevents the growth of identified fungi, but the third concentration is the best. The loss of color changes and mechanical properties decreased with increasing the concentration of fungicide used. This study confirms that the application of Habat Albaraka natural extract of oil as fungicide is necessary and useful in the preservation of parchment manuscripts and leather artifacts besides using Habat Albaraka as a natural antifungal essential oil improved the mechanical properties of the historical manuscripts.