ARS | Publication request: SMALL-SCALE AND FULL-SCALE PROCESSING COMPARISON: YARNS

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: January 3, 2006
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: In 2004, a new research project was begun at the USDA’s Southern Regional Research Center (SRRC) in New Orleans, Louisiana. The research project is known as the Fiber Quality Evaluation Laboratory (FQEL). FQEL’s mission is to establish a method of predicting the quality of cotton fiber, both in processing and end uses, through a small-scale processing trial. Quality assessment of this sort would be useful to breeders, buyers, and mills alike. Over the last two years, several hundred 15-30 pound samples have been processed through a standard protocol in the FQEL. There is a need to establish that this protocol and its results can be related to real-world and full-scale processing. A number of the samples processed on a small-scale by the FQEL were also sent through full-scale processing at the USDA’s Cotton Quality Research Station (CQRS) in Clemson, SC. Ten different sets of fibers were selected from the samples processed at both facilities. These ten sets were chosen to represent a wide range of fiber properties and leading varieties. The properties of yarns produced on both the small-scale and full-scale processing trials are compared and analyzed to validate the FQEL’s approach to fiber quality assessment.