ARS | Publication request: INFLUENCE OF STICK MACHINES ON TURNOUT AND QUALITY OF STRIPPER COTTON

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: January 5, 2001
Publication Date: June 30, 2001
Citation: BAKER, JR., ROY V., HOLT, GREGORY A., BRASHEARS, ALAN D. INFLUENCE OF STICK MACHINES ON TURNOUT AND QUALITY OF STRIPPER COTTON. PROCEEDINGS OF THE BELTWIDE COTTON CONFERENCE. 2001. V. 2. P. 1361-1364.

Interpretive Summary: Stick extractors are utilized during the harvesting and ginning of stripper harvested cotton. It is not uncommon for one extractor to be used during the harvesting operation, and for as many as three stick extracting machines to be used during ginning. These four stages of extraction are more than is necessary for many stripper cottons, especially for those that do not contain many sticks and stems. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of bypassing one stage of extraction when processing relatively clean stripper cotton. For cotton containing less than 3.5 percent sticks after harvest, one stage of stick extraction could be eliminated without adversely affecting ginning performance or the amount of bark in the lint. Either the stick extractor used during harvest or one used at the gin could be bypassed with only minor effects on classer's leaf grade or other fiber properties. Bale weight was increased when a stage of extraction was eliminated. This weight increase was due to a slightly higher trash content of the lint when a stick extractor was bypassed, and to less loss of seed cotton during harvesting or ginning. Seed cotton loss, however, was highly dependent on stick extractor design and varied from a negligible amount for an extractor used at the gin to as much as 20 pounds for the extractor used during harvest.

Technical Abstract: Bypassing the second stick machine in the gin's seed cotton cleaning system when handling field cleaned cotton did not significantly affect HVI properties or lint turnout. For non-field cleaned cotton, however, the bypassing of a stick machine adversely affected Rd color (reflectance), HVI trash area, and leaf grade. Lint turnout was improved slightly for non-field cleaned cotton when the second stick machine was bypassed.