Fiber and Spinning Properties of Cotton as Affected by Certain Harvesting and Ginning Practices, Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, 1959-60

Excerpts from the report: Cotton quality may be affected by variety and quality of the seed planted and by everything that is done to the cotton during production and ginning. Soil, fertilizer, weather and farming practices during the growing season, weather exposure from the time the bolls open until harvest, and methods of harvesting and ginning--all affect the quality. Three previous studies have shown that ginning conditions may have a considerable influence on grade and staple length--and thereby on the price per pound paid to the producer--and may also affect fiber length and length distribution, spinning performance, and yarn quality. The objective of the series of tests reported here was to determine the effects of certain cotton harvesting and ginning practices on return to growers, gin costs, cotton fiber properties, mill-processing performance, and quality of end products. The present study specifically deals with the effects of fiber lint moisture resulting from drying, seed-cotton cleaning, and lint cleaning during ginning on fiber properties and spinning performance and compares the quality of mechanically harvested and hand-picked lots of cotton.