Author
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Sawhney, Amar |
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Submitted to: Indian Textile Research Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/2005 Publication Date: 11/1/2005 Citation: Sawhney, A.P. 2005. Cotton Lint Quality Measurements -- Global Scenario. Indian Journal of Fiber & Textile Research. 30(2):121-122. Interpretive Summary: The United States of America is one of the, if not the, leading countries in the production, utilization and consumption of cotton commodity. However, the U.S. cotton textile industry presently is in distress, mainly because of international trade and competition issues. Therefore, export of U.S. cotton to international community has become important from the standpoint of agricultural economics. Although the AMS-USDA standards of lint cotton testing, classification and grading are universally recognized, many cotton importing countries as yet neither have the proper equipment to conduct standard tests on their own lint cotton productions (for comparison with imported cottons to optimizing processing/utilization of these cottons) nor have the modern cotton harvesting and ginning equipment, which could simulate the relevant conditions prevalent in the United States. Hence, there really is no good correlation between the countries’ indigenous cotton lint production and utilization and those of the imported U.S. cotton. To promote U.S. cotton exports and interests, it is essential that the textile industry worldwide becomes efficient. To achieve that efficiency, it is suggested that uniform lint test methods and quality standards be developed for the world’s entire cotton production, and an Internet-based database of major cottons be established to promote quality cotton breeding, production, textile manufacturing, and research. Technical Abstract: This manuscript is a concise review of modern high-volume-instrumentation (HVI) system for classification and grading of mass cotton production. Nowadays, almost the entire U.S. cotton lint production (after ginning) is mostly tested with automated instruments for important fiber characteristics and properties, such as length, length uniformity, strength, micronaire, trash and color, before it is sold or stored. Although the system is universal, only a very few countries among the 85 cotton growing countries have fully adopted it to grading cotton, mainly for marketing. The author of this paper suggests that the quality measurements of cotton lint are useful not only for marketing the lint but also for breeding, production, ginning, textile manufacturing, and research of cotton commodity. Therefore, it is opinionated that uniform, universal lint testing methods and procedures will be very useful for the promotion of the cotton industry (production, utilization and consumption) worldwide. |
