Comparative analyses of a maturity distributional parameter evaluating immature fibre contents by reference microscopic analysis and conventional fibre measurement methods.

Authors: Kim, Hee-Jin; Delhom, Christopher - Chris; JONES, DON - Cotton, Inc; XU, BUGAO - University Of North Texas

Submitted to: Journal of Textile Institute
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/14/2023
Publication Date: 4/25/2023
Citation: Kim, H.J., Delhom, C.D., Jones, D.C., Xu, B. 2023. Comparative analyses of a maturity distributional parameter evaluating immature fibre contents by reference microscopic analysis and conventional fibre measurement methods. Journal of Textile Institute. Article 2204460. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2023.2204460.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2023.2204460

Interpretive Summary: Textile industry monitors maturity variations within cotton materials to produce good and consistent quality of yarns and fabrics. Within-sample maturity variation is estimated as ‘immature fiber content (IFC)’ that is the percentage of fibers within a sample composed of a cell wall thickness of less than a certain maturity threshold. IFC can be directly determined by image analysis microscopy (IAM) that is considered as the reference method but rarely used due to lengthy and laborious procedures. Thus, textile industry and cotton breeders broadly use Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) for measuring maturity distribution and IFC indirectly but efficiently. However, AFIS IFC values have been neither compared nor validated with the IAM IFC values from the cotton reference materials. Thus, we measured maturity distributions and IFC values of the cotton reference materials using IAM and AFIS methods. The comparisons showed that AFIS is a suitable instrument for monitoring maturity distributions and IFC values for routine textile processing of commercial cotton materials composed of intermediate mature and mature fibers, but not for cotton materials composed of severely immature or overly mature fibers that are frequently used by cotton breeders and geneticists. Understanding of the potential limits of the AFIS instrument may help cotton scientists improving the ways of evaluating the within-sample maturity variation.

Technical Abstract: Reducing maturity variations within cotton materials is important in the textile industry for improving a quality of end-products. Within-sample variation in cotton fibre maturity can be measured by Advanced Fibre Information System (AFIS) or Cottonscope in terms of maturity distributions and immature fibre content (IFC). However, they have been neither utilized broadly nor characterized well. Thus, we compared mean maturity, maturity distribution curves, and IFC values of the cotton reference materials measured by the AFIS, Cottonscope, and reference microscopic method. Comparative analyses showed mean maturity represents a complex fibre trait composed of mature, immature, and severely immature fibres within each reference material, and the IFC determined by three methods with a common threshold shows strong and significant correlations despite the differences in their distribution curves. Understanding of advantages and limits of the distributional parameter may improve the way of evaluating fibre maturity variation within and among cotton samples.