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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Fiber Bioscience Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #353675
Title: Effect of fiber maturity on bundle and single fiber strength of Upland cotton

Author
item Kim, Hee-Jin
item Delhom, Christopher
item Rodgers Iii, James
item JONES, DON - Cotton, Inc

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/13/2018
Publication Date: 11/1/2018
Citation: Kim, H.J., Delhom, C.D., Rodgers III, J.E., Jones, D.C. 2018. Effect of fiber maturity on bundle and single fiber strength of Upland cotton. Crop Science. 59(1):115-124. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2018.05.0324.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2018.05.0324

Interpretive Summary: Both fiber maturity and fiber strength are important fiber properties that determine fiber quality. Despite the importance, their relationships has been not been characterized well. Based on the previous observations, fiber maturity had not been suggested as a major contributor to the fiber strength. The results presented in this manuscript showed that fiber maturity is significantly correlated with both bundle fiber strength and single fiber breaking force. As results, fiber maturity is a major contributor to fiber strength. These results potentially help cotton scientists develop strategic plans to improve fiber maturity and strength together using genetic, genomic, or breeding tools.

Technical Abstract: Maturity and strength are two of the physical properties that determine the quality and value of cotton. Their relationship has been poorly understood due to technical difficulties of directly measuring maturity and strength from individual fibers. Narrow maturity and strength ranges of most upland cotton fibers also impeded cotton scientists from performing statistical approaches. Therefore, we used genetic approaches to construct 168 new upland cotton materials covering broad ranges of maturity and strength and measured maturity ratio (MR) and strength-related properties from bundle and single fibers with reference methods. Comparisons of their properties showed that the MR values were significantly and positively correlated with single fiber breaking force (SFBF, cN) as well as bundle fiber strength (BFS, g/tex) and elongation values. There were also correlations between the MR values and single fiber strength (SFS, cN/tex) although its correlation coefficient value was substantially affected by the linear density (tex) that normalized the breaking force (cN). The results showed that secondary cell wall development (maturation) is a major factor in determining bundle and single fiber strength. These results will help cotton scientists understand the correlations between fiber maturity and strength, and develop strategic plans to improve quality and yield of cotton fibers.