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Title: Commercial cotton variety spinning study descriptive statistics and distributions of cotton fiber and yarn.

Author
item Foulk, Jonn
item Gamble, Gary
item SENTER, HERMAN - CLEMSON UNIV.
item Meredith Jr, William

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/18/2007
Publication Date: 10/26/2007
Citation: Foulk, J.A., Gamble, G.R., Senter, H., Meredith Jr, W.R. 2007. Commercial cotton variety spinning study descriptive statistics and distributions of cotton fiber and yarn. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference, January 9-12, 2007, New Orleans, Louisiana. p.1796-1807. National Cotton Council, Memphis, Tennesee. http://www.cotton.org/beltwide

Interpretive Summary: The Cotton Quality Research Station (CQRS) of the USDA-ARS has completed a study of the relationship of cotton fiber properties to the quality of spun yarn. The five year study, began in 2001, utilized commercial variety cotton grown, harvested and ginned in each of three major growing regions in the US. Cotton varieties were selected, based on annual national cotton variety tests. CQRS made extensive measurements of the raw cotton properties (both physical and chemical) of 154 lots of blended cotton. These lots were then spun into yarn in the CQRS laboratory by each of three spinning methods and several characteristics of the yarn measured for each lot. This report, the first in a series of four reports about the study, explains the study design, the methods and procedures followed, and describes the 154 cotton lots in terms of fiber properties and yarn characteristics.

Technical Abstract: The Cotton Quality Research Station (CQRS) of the USDA-ARS, located in Clemson, SC, has completed a comprehensive study of the relationship of cotton fiber properties to the quality of spun yarn. The five year study, began in 2001, utilized commercial variety cotton grown, harvested and ginned in each of three major growing regions in the US (Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas). Cotton varieties were selected, based on annual national cotton variety tests, to have fiber quality traits indicating suitability for processing on the latest generation of spinning equipment at top speeds. CQRS made extensive measurements of the raw cotton properties (both physical and chemical) of 154 lots of blended cotton. These lots were then spun into yarn in the CQRS laboratory by each of three spinning methods (ring, vortex and rotor spinning) and several characteristics of the yarn and process were measured for each lot. A statistical analysis was conducted to identify fiber properties which best predict spinning performance and to develop an index of processing quality based on selected fiber properties. This report, the first in a series of four reports about the study, explains the study design, the methods and procedures followed, and describes the 154 cotton lots in terms of fiber properties and yarn characteristics. It lays the foundation for subsequent analyses relating fiber properties to spinning performance.