AJ NewsLink: FBRI looks for ways to improve quality, value of cotton
Even though cotton prices have reached historic heights in the past year, Texas Tech researchers said West Texas needs to continue developing higher-quality fiber to stay ahead of growing competition overseas and maintain a strong, long-lasting market for farmers.
Over the last 10 years, West Texas cotton has experienced a dramatic transformation through new transgenic cotton varieties and advanced technology, but collaborative research was what helped bring the regional and national cotton industries to greener pastures, said Dean Ethridge, professor and managing director of Texas Tech's Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute (FBRI).
More Markets "" More Money. "This area has had a revolution in its fibers," he said. "Texas went from the shortest staple length in Upland cotton to having one of the longest staple lengths." That fiber-length improvement translated to higher-quality grades, more markets and more money for West Texas farmers. At the same time, the U.S. is not the top cotton-producing country anymore; nations such as China, India and Pakistan produce greater quantities of cotton.
For those reasons, FBRI researchers Noureddine Abidi and Eric Hequet are in the midst of their own revolution to bring cotton to the next level of quality and demand through cotton harvesting methods comparison, fiber functionalization and fiber development studies.
Hequet, an associate professor and FBRI associate director, is in the third and final year of his collaborative cotton harvesting methods comparison project with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Texas AgriLife Extension. In December, Texas Tech named him one of the Chancellor's Council Distinguished Award recipients for his 13 years of quality research.
Fiber Quality Analysis. Hequet examines the differences in fiber quality of cotton harvested by cotton strippers compared to cotton pickers and spins the cotton into yarn. According previous data, he said yarn from stripper-harvested cotton contained a more trash, bark and short, immature fibers than the picker-harvested cotton. Also, the ginning processes are simpler with picker-harvested cotton.
Hequet uses both High Volume Instrument (HVI) and the Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) in his research because HVI has been the standard classing system for decades and AFIS reveals very distinct differences in fiber quality. AFIS can identify fiber distribution, short fiber content and neps, an entanglement of fibers, he said, but there is a need for a new generation of HVI machines that can better assess fiber defects in cotton.
"If we move from the current system to a more sophisticated system, that would be able to tell us difference between picker and stripper cotton "" length distribution and neps "" then, we can regain the advantage and at the same time, we can improve our quality a lot," Hequet said.
Value-Added Cotton Products. He began classing and spinning the 2010 crop last week, and once he finishes, Hequet intends to publish the three years of results and pass on that information to area farmers. The majority of South Plains farmers use stripper harvesters, and they will most likely continue to use them because HVI grades do not show a significant reduction in quality, he said.
Hequet also works closely with Abidi, an assistant professor and the head of FBRI, on a number of projects to enhance fiber quality through genetics and create new value-added cotton products. Some of their published studies focused on cotton fabric with self-cleaning and ultraviolet light protection, anti-bacterial fabric, the effect of cotton's secondary cell wall development on fiber maturity as well as changes in sugar composition and cellulose content in secondary cell wall development.
Because cotton is such a multi-faceted natural fiber, Abidi said, he can treat cotton fabric with chemicals to make it water repellent, stain resistant or wrinkle-free and not affect the comfort to the wearer. By studying the relationship between cotton genetics and fiber length, strength and maturity, breeders may be able to determine how to prevent immaturity issues at the field level.
Multi-Faceted Natural Fiber. While FBRI may be engaged in work to better understand the genetic and physical properties of cotton, in the next 10 years the varieties of cotton the researchers said they will be looking at will be completely different. "It's very, very important to keep an eye on the market, what the trends are, how these things are evolving and what kinds of man-made fibers can compete with us," Hequet said.
Specifically for the Texas High Plans, he said the issue is short fiber length distribution caused by a short growing season that does not provide enough time for the cotton to mature and create strong, long staple fiber. Through his and Abidi's research, he hoped breeders would be able to develop varieties better suited for the region's shorter growing season.
Written by Alyssa Dizon
CONTACT: Eric Hequet, Associate Professor, Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-1630 or eric.hequet@ttu.edu
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Editor's Note: For more information, click http://lubbockonline.com/agriculture/2011-02-13/biopolymer-research-institute-looks-ways-improve-quality-and-value-area
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