Predicting lint cleaner efficiency and fiber quality characteristics in cotton ginning

This study updates nine lint cleaner and fiber quality relationships (non-lint content, lint cleaner efficiency, fiber strength, micronaire reading, fibergraph length, uniformity ratio, percentage of lint in gin waste, colorimeter reflectance, and colorimeter plus b) by using recent experimental data. These relationships provide a means to evaluate the effects of alternative gin configurations and initial cotton properties on ginning performance and to identify a machine sequence in the ginning process that would optimize quality characteristics of the saleable fiber. The levels of many quality attributes in cotton continue to play an increasingly important role in the cotton pricing system. The market clearly assigns a value to each quality characteristic embodied in cotton, thereby directly affecting the price that producers receive in the market.