Chapter 10 RECENT ADVANCES IN COTTON FIBER DEVELOPMENT

Textile Research Journal, 2000

Surface wetting measurements and several analytical techniques including FTIR/ATR, DSC, TGA, and pyrolysis-GC/MS are used to characterize the noncellulosic components of developing cotton fibers as intact components of the fiber structure. Water contact angle measurements are most sensitive to the presence of hydrophobic compounds on the surfaces of cotton fibers of all ages and to their removal by alkaline scouring. In general, FTIR/ATR, DSC, TGA, and pyrolysis-GC/MS provide clear evidence of specific noncellulosic components in developing cotton fibers through the onset of secondary celt wall synthesis. Waxy compounds are evident by their melting endotherms in DSC thermograms, carbonyl bands in FTIR spectra, and mass spectra in the untreated developing fibers between 12 and 17 dpa. Pectins are detected by. FTIR in the 14 dpa and mature fibers. FTIR/ATR measure ments indicate the presence of proteins in untreated fibers up to 16 dpa and water-rinsed fibers up to 18 dpa. The presenc...

2020

Cotton is the most important and widespread natural textile fiber in the world. Across 75 countries, the production of cotton crops provides income for more than 250 million people. Approximately half of all textile products are made of cotton in the form of apparel, home textiles, and industrial products. As all agriculture crops, cotton is also dependent on the climate conditions, soil quality, and water in which it is cultivated. All of these factors contribute to the diversity of cotton fiber properties. This chapter covers a wide range of essential segments related to cotton production, its structure, and different quality parameters. Best management practices result in better yield and quality of cotton fiber. This chapter also covers the important aspects of BMPs for cotton fiber cultivation. BCI, the better cotton initiative, is also one of the initiatives to make better sustainable cotton production. To enhance biodiversity and to maintain biological cycles, organic cotton can play an important role. This category of the cotton crop is produced with non-genetically modified plants, and by avoiding the use of any fertilizers or pesticides during its production. Keeping in mind its pivotal role, this chapter has also included the latest advancements in organic cotton.

J. Cotton Sci, 2000

The mature cotton fiber used in textile processing is the end product of a series of developmental events in the life of this ovule epidermal cell. Thus, improvements in cotton fiber properties for textiles depend on changes in the growth and development of the fiber.

Indian Journal of Fibre & Textile Research

The dynamic elastic modulus of three cultivated varieties of G. hirsutum Linn, namely Samaru 26J Nigeria, Samaru 26J Glasgow and an unspecified American upland has been studied at different stages of fibre maturity using visco-elastomer. The dynamic modulus is found to be strongly dependent on both the maturity and the optical orientation angle. To eliminate the effect of convolutions on both the dynamic modulus and the helix angle, fibres are treated in liquid ammonia to get Cellulose III lattice structure and revert back to Cellulose I lattice structure using distilled water. Both the X-ray diffractograms and the scanning electron micrographs also confirm this finding. Maturity ratio is shown to have a very strong effect on the dynamic elastic modulus and not the age of the fibre. Fibres of similar maturity ratio show similar dynamic modulus, irrespective of the environmental conditions. Cellulose III and Cellulose I regenerated fibres have about the same dynamic modulus values. This shows that treatment does produce profound changes in the gross structure and calls for a fresh look at the swelling mechanism in both structures, a possible disruption of the H-bonding systems of cellulose by both treatments.

Field Crops Research, 1999

Developing lint ®bers from normally developing seeds and from motes of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. cv Acala SJ2 and cv Acala Maxxa) were compared with respect to cell wall cytochemistry. Fibers from motes (unfertilized ovules or aborted seeds) were used as a model for non-dyeing ®bers, a contributor to poor quality textiles. Primary and secondary ®ber walls were stained for pectin, cutin, suberin, callose, and cellulose. Up to 25 days post-anthesis (DPA), mote ®bers had pectinaceous primary walls with a thin layer of cellulose, indistinguishable from primary walls of normally developing ®bers. However, secondary walls in mote ®bers had scanty, irregularly deposited cellulose, while secondary walls in normal ®bers were well developed with thick cellulosic layers. At 29 DPA and at later stages of development, ®bers on normal seeds had well-developed secondary walls, which were proportionally less developed on medium-sized and small motes. Nonetheless, ®bers, which varied in diameter and cell wall thickness, were found on all normal seeds, on medium-sized and on small motes; most ®ber cell walls were smaller in thickness at the chalazal than at the micropylar end. Regardless of their thickness, ®bers on seeds and motes had cellulosic secondary cell walls. As most industrial dyes are speci®c for cellulose, the paucity of cellulose in mote ®bers is consistent with the suggested causal relationship between lack of cellulose and the non-dyeing nature of some ®bers. There were indications that immature ®bers at the chalazal end of seeds may also contribute to dye imperfections in fabrics.

Mill modernization and global market requirements necessitates the continual improvement of upland cotton, Gossypium hirustum L., cultivars. Recent focus by breeders is to create upland cotton with superior fiber quality that approaches pima cotton, Gossypium barbadense L. The objective of this study was to perform in-depth analysis of fibers produced by 'FM832' and 'MD51neOK' and their progeny, 'MD15', that express transgressive segregation for fiber bundle strength. Results were generated via the Stelometer, Peyer AL101, Fibrograph, HVI™, AFIS, Favimat, Fiber Dimensional Analysis System (FDAS) 765, and miniature spinning. Single fiber strength and fineness testing was performed using the Favimat, whereas the FDAS 765 performed non-contact dimensional analysis along the fiber length. Traditional fiber bundle testing was compared to single fiber testing and miniature spinning yarn testing. Cottons in this study were broken at different loading rates from 0.3 ...

Fibers, 2014

An investigation of the relationships among fiber linear density, tenacity, and structure is important to help cotton breeders modify varieties for enhanced fiber end-use qualities. This study employed the Stelometer instrument, which is the traditional fiber tenacity reference method and might still be an option as a rapid screening tool because of its low cost and portable attributes. In addition to flat bundle break force and weight variables from a routine Stelometer test, the number of fibers in the bundle were counted manually and the fiber crystallinity (CI IR) was characterized by the previously proposed attenuated total reflection-sampling device based Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) protocol. Based on the plots of either tenacity vs. linear density or fiber count vs. mass, the fibers were subjectively divided into fine or coarse sets, respectively. Relative to the distinctive increase in fiber tenacity with linear density, there was an unclear trend between the linear density and CI IR for these fibers. Samples with similar linear density were found to increase in tenacity with fiber CI IR. In general, Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) fineness increases with fiber linear density.

Micro and macro environmental factors influence the genetics and physiology of plants during production season which creates the difficulties among the empirical evaluation of plant characters. Fiber quality of cotton is greatly influenced by temperature that seems to be the main barrier in early stages of fiber development whether the crop is sown early or late. Cotton fiber developments comprises four distinct discrete overlapping stages i.e. initiation, elongation, secondary cell wall deposition (SCWD) and maturation/dehydration which are accomplished in-3 to 50 days post anthesis (dpa). The fiber cell, internally occupied a large central vacuole (lumen), is progressively filled with cellulose deposited inside the primary cell wall (PCW) and secondary cell wall. Growth mechanism (diffuse versus tip) for rapid final elongation of cotton fiber is still debatable and no genes are still known to be specific for tip-growing cell types. Plant hormones including GAs (Gibberellic acid), ...

Biotechnology of Biopolymers, 2011

2. Development of cotton fibre 2.1 Origin of cotton The Cotton plant belongs to the order of Malvales, the family Malvaceae, the tribe Hibiscus, and the genus Gossypium. There are four domesticated species of cotton of commercial importance: G. barbadense, G. hirsutum, G. arboreum and G. herbaceum. Each one of these commercially important species contains many different varieties developed through breeding programmes to produce various types of cotton with continually improving properties such as faster maturing, improved insect and disease resistance, greater length, better strength and uniformity. At various periods, the G. barbadense L., native South America, was transported to various parts of the world and grown as a commercial crop. Breeding and selection in this species resulted in varieties known for their superior fibre quality. These belong to the long staple varieties of cotton and are known for their length exceeding 33 mm, fine fibres with exceptional tensile strength. They supply about 8% of the current world production of cotton fibre. This group includes the commercial varieties of Egyptian, Sea Island, and Pima cottons. G. hirsutum L., which produces medium to long fibres (25 mm to 32 mm), is developed in the United States from cotton native to Mexico and Central America and includes all the many commercial varieties of American Upland cotton. Upland cotton, now provides over 90 % of the world production of raw cotton fibre. Fibre from G. hirsutum L. is widely used in apparel, www.intechopen.com Biotechnology of Biopolymers 194 home furnishing and industrial products. G. barbadense L. Pima is used for the production of high-quality fabrics. The other species, G. arboreum L. and G. herbaceum L. are the shortest staple types of cotton cultivated (inferior to 25 mm) and are coarse. Both are of minor commercial importance worldwide but are still grown commercially in Pakistan and India. According to projections by the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), world cotton production is expected to grow by nearly 10% in 2010/11 upto 24.2 million tons, against 22.2 Mt in 2009/10. The main cotton producers are China (31%), India (23%), the United States (12%), Pakistan (10%) and Brazil with 5% of world production.

Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 1999

Fibers of three cotton cultivars (Gossypium hirsutum L.) H-4, H-8 and (G. arboreum) G. Cot-15, which shows variation in staple length were analyzed for growth in terms of fiber length and fresh and dry mass. From the growth analysis cotton fiber development is divided in tour distinct phases i.e. (i) initiation (ii) elongation (iii) secondary thickening and (iv) maturation. Rate of fiber elongation and rate of water content shows close parallelism. Highly esterified and less esterified pectic fraction along with high and low molecular weight xyloglucan fractions were estimated from fiber walls of all the three cotton genotypes. Xyloglucans were fractioned in to high and low molecular weight by alkali treatment, 1 M and 4 M KOH respectively. Xyloglucan content shows inverse correlation with fiber elongation. Role of water content and wall components in determination of staple length in cotton genotypes is discussed.

Polymers, 2021

Cotton is one of the most important and widely grown crops in the world. Understanding the synthesis mechanism of cotton fiber elongation can provide valuable tools to the cotton industry for improving cotton fiber yield and quality at the molecular level. In this work, the surface and thermal characteristics of cotton fiber samples collected from a wild type (WT) and three mutant lines (Li1, Li2-short, Li2-long, Li2-mix, and liy) were comparatively investigated. Microimaging revealed a general similarity trend of WT ≥ Li2-long ≈ Li2-mix > Li1 > Li2 short ≈ liy with Ca detected on the surface of the last two. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric measurements also showed that Li2-short and liy were more similar to each other, and Li2-long and Li2-mix closer to WT while Li1 was quite independent. FT-IR results further demonstrated that wax and amorphous cellulose were co-present in fiber structures during the fibe...

Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, 1996

The crystalline structure of dried cotton fibers at varying development stages has been investigated using wide angle x-ray diffraction (WAXS) techniques. The cellulose I crystalline structure has been confirmed on dried SJ-2 Acala cotton fibers collected at varying developmental stages and at maturity. The cellulose I crystalline structure is clearly evident at the early developmental stage of 21 days postanthesis (dpa). The crystal system remains unchanged during the cotton fiber biosynthesis and at maturity. The degree of crystallinity and crystallite dimensions in the cotton fibers increase with cell development. The most significant increments are observed between 21 and 34 dpa (i.e., during the first half of the secondary wall thickening process). The unit cell sizes slightly decrease and thus the crystal density increases with fiber development. The alignment of the glucosidic rings in respect to the 002 planes improves with fiber cell development.

Bioresources

Macro- and crystalline structure, as well as chemical composition of fibers related to various types and sorts of Israeli cottons, both white and naturally colored, were investigated. The differences in structural parameters and chemical compositions of the cotton fibers were evaluated. Samples of cotton of the “Pima”-type had long, thin and strong fibers with highly ordered supermolecular structure. Fibers of middle-long and hybrid cottons had some lower-ordered structural organization in comparison to long-length cotton, while fibers of naturally colored cotton were characterized with disordered supermolecular and crystalline structure. Dependence of tensile strength on orientation of nano-fibrils towards the fiber axis was found. Conditions of cellulose isolation from the different cotton fibers were studied. Structural characteristics of isolated cotton celluloses and obtained MCC are discussed.