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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Structure and Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #229865
Title: A Customized Microscopic System for High Volume Measurements of Cotton Maturity

Author
item XU, B - UNIV OF TEXAS AUSTIN
item YAO, X - Texas Tech University
item Bel, Patricia
item HEQUET, E - Texas Tech University
item WYATT, B - Texas Tech University

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/5/2007
Publication Date: 11/1/2007
Citation: Xu, B., Yao, X., Bel, P., Hequet, E., Wyatt, B. 2007. A Customized Microscopic System for High Volume Measurements of Cotton Maturity. Meeting Proceedings. p. 1-14.

Interpretive Summary: This paper will report on the technical development of a customized microscopic imaging system, FIAS (Fiber Image Analysis System), for direct, fast and high-volume measurements of cotton maturity from longitudinal views and the experiment results. Information about cotton maturity is desirable to cotton breeders and growers for cotton enhancement and to textile manufacturers for quality control. Fiber maturity is measured using ribbon width and fiber density. It reports on the experimental results of the 102 cotton bales selected worldwide to represent a wide range of cotton maturity. This new measurement system has great potential to be regularly used for cotton maturity measurements because of its high efficiency in sample preparation and data processing. In combination with the micronaire, and predicting Theta, this is a method that is much faster than the reference method (fiber cross-section), making this a useful tool for testing cottons for breeding programs.

Technical Abstract: Cotton maturity, which refers to the degree of development of the fiber wall, is one of the determinants of cotton quality because it affects many properties of cotton fibers. Mature fibers usually possess greater strength and better resilience. The presence of immature fibers may cause excessive damage and waste during processing and may weaken yarn strength. Immature fibers have also been recognized as one of the principal causes of the formation of nep, a rough and uneven appearance in yarns and fabrics. Due to their relatively low dye affinity, neps easily show up as imperfections in a dyed fabric. Hence, information about cotton maturity is desirable to cotton breeders and growers for cotton enhancement and to textile manufacturers for quality control. This paper will report the development of a dedicated system that promises a direct, fast and high-volume method for cotton maturity measurement from longitudinal views, and the experiment results. Cotton fibers are convoluted along their longitudinal axes. A convoluted fiber has large variations in fiber width as projected in a 2-D image. The ratio of the maximum width to the minimum width of a fiber ribbon can be used as a maturity factor. Another important factor that is related to cotton maturity is the translucence of the fibers because the translucence in a transmitting light microscope is dictated by the thickness of the secondary wall. The paper will describe the methodology of extracting these features and how they relate to cotton maturity.