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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Cotton Ginning Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #307162
Title: Fiber damage related to maturity and processing

Author
item Byler, Richard
item Delhom, Christopher - Chris
item SASSENRATH, GRETCHEN - Kansas State University
item KRIFA, MOURAD - University Of Texas

Submitted to: ASABE Annual International Meeting
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/14/2014
Publication Date: 7/19/2014
Citation: Byler, R.K., Delhom, C.D., Sassenrath, G., Krifa, M. 2014. Fiber damage related to maturity and processing. ASABE Annual International Meeting. Paper No. 141912745, pages 1-9.

Interpretive Summary: Several researchers have shown that immature cotton fibers are more easily broken during ginning and mill processing and they can present problems at the mill for yarn production. In some cases immature cotton fiber is produced as the result of problems with weather, such as an early frost or extended cold periods that interrupt the maturing process. It is also possible for a producer to interrupt the maturing process through defoliation. Because weather rarely affects maturity in the Mississippi Delta, early defoliation was used to induce differences in maturity with two cotton varieties grown for three consecutive years. Each lot of cotton produced with two defoliation dates was ginned with four gin treatments; no drying heat with no saw-type lint cleaners, no drying heat with one saw-type lint cleaner, no drying heat with three saw-type lint cleaners, and modest drying heat with one saw-type lint cleaner. The resulting lots of cotton fiber were measured using both the High Volume Instrument and the Advanced Fiber Information System. These measurements were analyzed and the earlier defoliation resulted in fiber with lower maturity, although the maturity differences were relatively small. The ginning treatments and the defoliation treatment affected the fiber quality but the early defoliation generally damaged the fiber more than the ginning treatments and the early defoliation combined with the two more aggressive ginning treatments reduced the fiber quality the most. When the fiber was spun into yarn many properties such as yarn strength and elongation were unaffected by the treatments. However, yarn unevenness was affected by the maturity differences but the ginning treatments did not affect the yarn properties. When the fiber measurements were used to predict problems in yarn evenness the fiber length, maturity, and fiber color were statistically significant. This study shows the importance of fiber maturity in yarn production and shows that differences due to several ginning treatments are relatively less important than previously thought.

Technical Abstract: A study was conducted over three years where two cultivars of cotton were grown with half defoliated early and half late to get two fiber maturities. This cotton was ginned with four ginning treatments and then spun into yarn. Fiber properties were measured by the High Volume Instrument (HVI) and Advanced Fiber Information System AFIS and yarn properties were measured. Data were examined to determine the relationships between fiber maturity, ginning treatments, and yarn properties. The HVI measurements showed that differences existed in Micronaire, fiber length, short fiber, fiber strength, fiber elongation, sample color, and trash levels. The AFIS measurements showed that there were significant differences in fiber maturity, length, short fiber, and neps. The mill cleaning reduced the differences in neps before spinning but did not eliminate the differences due to early defoliation. The yarn evenness was found to vary in relation to the defoliation and HVI measurements of short fiber, sample color, Micronaire and trash levels were correlated with the evenness variations.