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 #277597
Title: Comparison of high-speed roller and saw ginning on Texas high plains cotton

Author
item Wanjura, John
item Armijo, Carlos
item FAULKNER, W - Texas A&M University
item BOMAN, R - Oklahoma State University
item KELLEY, M - Texas Agrilife Extension
item ASHBROOK, C - Texas Agrilife Extension
item Holt, Gregory
item Pelletier, Mathew

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/3/2012
Publication Date: 4/20/2012
Citation: Wanjura, J.D., Armijo, C.B., Faulkner, W.B., Boman, R.K., Kelley, M.S., Ashbrook, C.W., Holt, G.A., Pelletier, M.G. 2012. Comparison of high-speed roller and saw ginning on Texas high plains cotton. In: Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, January 3-6, 2012, Orlando, Florida. 2012 CDROM. p. 671-675.

Interpretive Summary: Cotton quality and yield have improved in the Southern High Plains recently. The cotton fiber now produced in the High Plains region is able to compete against high quality cotton grown in other parts of the world for market share in high-value ring spinning applications. As a result, producers are interested in identifying harvesting and ginning methods that best preserve fiber quality in an effort to maximize economic returns. This project was conducted to compare the fiber quality of cotton grown in the Southern High Plains, harvested using either a brush-roll stripper or a spindle picker, and ginned on either a saw gin or high-speed roller ginning system. The results indicate that the high-speed roller gin produces fiber that is longer and more uniform, regardless of harvest method. In addition, there are fewer fiber entanglements in the high-speed roller ginned cotton compared to the saw ginned cotton from either harvest method. Although the loan value for the high-speed roller ginned cotton was slightly lower than the saw ginned cotton due to reduced color grade, the roller ginned cotton has a higher use value in ring spinning than the saw ginned cotton due to its improved fiber length characteristics.

Technical Abstract: New high-quality cotton cultivars have been adopted in the Southern High Plains recently and, as a result, interest has grown in finding harvest and ginning practices that better preserve fiber quality. Advancements in roller ginning technology have increased the ginning rate of some roller gins to that of saw gins. Thus, there is renewed interest in roller ginning for upland cotton. The objective of this work was to compare fiber quality and turnout of upland cotton produced in the Southern High Plains, harvested using a spindle picker or a brush-roll stripper, and ginned using saw or high-speed roller ginning (HSRG) systems. The findings of this work indicate that the HSRG substantially improved the length characteristics of the upland cultivar used, regardless of harvest method. Turnout was higher for the HSRG cotton and for picker harvested cotton. Nep content was reduced for picker harvested cotton and HSRG cotton. Loan value for HSRG cotton was reduced slightly compared to the saw ginned cotton due to reduced fiber reflectance values. The fiber length distribution and nep content improvements afforded by the HSRG make this fiber more attractive to ring spinning mills which produce high count yarns for high value products.