Author
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Sassenrath, Gretchen |
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Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 1/10/2005 Publication Date: 6/15/2005 Citation: Sassenrath, G.F. 2005. Impact of harvesting and ginning on fiber properties - translating from researcher to producer level results. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. PG 2052-2056, CD-ROM Interpretive Summary: The price paid for cotton lint is determined by the quality of a variety of characteristics of the lint. These factors are dependent on both external properties, such as color and leaf, and internal properties such as micronaire. Cotton fiber properties are sensitive to conditions both pre- and post-harvest. In our research, we are exploring limitations during crop development that reduce the quality of the harvested cotton. Two factors are especially critical in determining fiber quality: method of picking, and ginning. Commercial cotton production relies on mechanical harvesting and full scale gins. These methods are often not amenable to the small sample sizes of research plots, which often use hand picking and small research gins. The lack of lint cleaners on the research gins greatly reduces the fiber quality as determined by classing. To better compare our research-level results with those typically seen by cotton producers, we need a way of scaling from research level results to production scale. This report describes our results comparing research level with production level fiber quality, based on harvesting and ginning methods. Technical Abstract: Cotton fiber is graded on a series of parameters based on physiological factors (strength, length, and thickness), lint color, and presence of non-lint matter such as leaves, stems or other foreign materials. Two areas of research have realized the differences in fiber quality commonly observed because of different ginning and harvesting practices. The small samples sizes of cotton harvested for spatial determinations of fiber properties, and for determining the genetic properties of cotton cultivars lends itself to hand-harvesting and small-scale (10-saw) research gins. These methods commonly used by researchers are not directly comparable to those fiber properties from machine-harvested cotton ginned in a commercial-scale gin with cleaners. This study was undertaken to develop a method of translating the research-level results to production-level results. This will allow us to more accurately extrapolate the results from small-scale research to that appropriate for a producer. As a first step, we have developed a mechanism of sampling cotton from the cotton chute during mechanical harvest. The samples are then ginned on a research gin. This study reports our results examining the impact of harvest and ginning methods on cotton fiber quality from controlled test plots. |
