Influence of the Impurity Level of Seed Cotton on the Ginning Yield and the Technological Characteristics of the Fiber in Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

Background: Cotton growing in Côte d’Ivoire faces a number of constraints, not least climate change, which is having an increasingly visible impact on production. In addition to the drop in cotton production, one of the problems facing the Ivorian cotton industry is the low fibre yield at ginning factories and the poor quality of the fibre sold on the international market. The causes identified include the poor quality of seed cotton purchased on local markets, particularly the level of impurities. This study was therefore carried out to determine the influence of the waste contained in the seed cotton ginned in factories on the fibre yield and the technological characteristics of cotton fibre in Côte d’Ivoire. The work consisted in carrying out ginning trials in ginning factories to assess fibre yield in relation to the level of impurities in the cotton harvested. The fibre samples taken from the bales during the ginning trials were analysed on an HVI 1000/1000 integrated measurement chain. The data collected were used to perform a multivariate analysis (PCA) and simple regressions. Results: The results showed that the waste rate increased from 2.96% to 5.33% from the youngest production generations to the oldest. Principal component analysis revealed correlations between parameters collected in factories. The level of impurity was negatively correlated with fifer ginning yield, fibre length (y = −0.4408x + 28.991; R 2 = 0.3956; p = 0.005) and length uniformity (y = −0.5963x + 81.078; R 2 = 0.5185; p = 0.001). It is positively correlated with short fibre content (y = 1.8376x + 8.8186; R 2 = 0.5833; p = 0.000) and trash in baled fibres (y = 4.8515x + 25.759; R 2 = 0.4054; p = 0.004). Con clusion: Impurities in seed cotton contribute to reducing the fibre yield at ginning in factories and degrading the fibre characteristics by reducing fibre length and uniformity on the one hand, and by increasing short fibre rates on the other. This contributes to reducing the market value of cotton fibre.