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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Pest Management and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #181637
Title: INTRODUCTION, CHAPTER 1

Author
item Henneberry, Thomas
item NICHOLS, ROBERT - COTTIN INC CARY NC
item HEQUET, ERIC - INTL TEXTILE TEXAS

Submitted to: Sticky Cotton - Causes, Impacts and Prevention
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/1/2005
Publication Date: 6/4/2007
Citation: Henneberry, T.J., Nichols, R.L., Hequet, E.F. 2007. Introduction, Chapter 1. Sticky Cotton - Causes, Impacts and Prevention. ARS Tech Bull. 1915:1-4.

Interpretive Summary: Old world cottons are still grown in some parts of Africa and Asia. Agronomically superior new world cultivars dominate world cotton production. Most cottons grown are short-staple as opposed to long-staple cultivars. When man began to process cotton lint to produce cloth for his use is unknown. Archeological evidence dates to around 4300 B.C. from sites in India and Pakistan. India was the center of the cotton industry for 3000 years.

Technical Abstract: Brubaker et al. (1999) reviewed the origin and domestication of new and old world cottons, Gossypium spp., in detail. Although old world cottons are still grown in some parts of Africa and Asia, agronomically superior new world cultivars of G. hirsutum (short-staple) and G. barbadense (long-staple) dominate in world cotton production, and 90% of the cottons grown are G. hirsutum cultivars. The point in history where man began processing cotton lint to produce cloth for his use is unknown. Archeological remains of cloth fragments and yarn, attributed to an old world cotton, G. arboreum, dated to around 4300 B.C., have been recovered from sites in India and Pakistan. Furthermore, a line in a Hindu hymn written in approximately1500 BC refers to “threads in a loom”. Scherer (1916) also pointed out that the earliest records of man indicate the use of various fibers in the manufacture of cloth. Wool, flax, silk and cotton were the principal fibers in Western Asia, and Southern Europe, Northern Europe, China, and India, respectively. India was the center of the cotton industry for 3000 years. Indian ginning, spinning, and weaving machinery in early times was hand operated and of the most primitive type.