Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Lubbock, Texas » Cropping Systems Research Laboratory » Cotton Production and Processing Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #109243
Title: COMBINED EFFECTS OF FIELD CLEANING AND LINT CLEANING ON STRIPPER HARVESTED COTTON

Author
item Baker, Roy
item Brashears, Alan

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/14/2000
Publication Date: 6/12/2000
Citation: BAKER, JR., R.V., BRASHEARS, A.D. COMBINED EFFECTS OF FIELD CLEANING AND LINT CLEANING ON STRIPPER HARVESTED COTTON. PROCEEDINGS OF THE BELTWIDE COTTON CONFERENCES. 2000. V. 2 P. 1616-1621.

Interpretive Summary: Field cleaners are basically compact 2-saw stick machines similar to larger units of similar design found in cotton gins. When combined with the stripper harvester, the field cleaner can remove a substantial amount of foreign matter from the cotton during the harvesting operation. The major advantages and disadvantages of field cleaning, from both the producers' and the ginners' viewpoints, have been studied. These analyses were hampered, to some extent, by a lack of detailed information on the effects of modern stripper harvesting and field cleaning practices on fiber quality and spinning performance. Consequently, experiments were conducted at the USDA-ARS Ginning Laboratory at Lubbock, TX during crop years 1997-98 and 1998-99 to obtain additional and more detailed information on the fiber quality effects of field cleaning during stripper harvesting. Field cleaning during stripper harvesting produced significantly cleaner seed cotton and lint than did comparable cotton harvested without the field cleaner. Improvements in lint cleanliness were evident before and after both saw-type lint cleaners employed in these studies, and these improvements in trash level resulted in somewhat higher color and leaf grades for field cleaned cotton. Field cleaning also tended to slightly increase some of the fiber maturity measurements and, in a few cases, to lower nep levels in fiber and yarn. Field cleaning had no significant effect on any of the fiber length parameters, and its effects on ring and open end yarns were minimal.

Technical Abstract: Field cleaning of conventional stripper-type cottons during the brush stripping operation produced cleaner seed cotton and lint than did comparable cotton harvested without the field cleaner. Significant improvements in lint foreign matter levels were noted at each stage of lint cleaning, and these improvements in trash level resulted in somewhat higher rcolor and leaf grades for field cleaned cotton. Field cleaning also tended slightly to increase some fiber maturity measurements and, in a few cases, to lower nep levels in fiber and yarn. Field cleaning had no significant effect on any of the fiber length parameters, and its effects on the quality of ring and open-end yarns were minimal.