Recent advances in Blowroom Technology -- The Cleanomat System.

Truetzschler's Cleanomat cotton cleaning equipment acheives very high degrees of cleaning in very short cleaning lines. The Cleanomat may contain one, three, or four rollers. Roller surfaces contain pins, needles, coarse saw tooth wires, or fine saw tooth wires. Mote knives combined with the carding segment and suction hoods remove seed c..

Supima Cotton -- the Ultimate Fiber For Lush, Luxurious Knits.

After decades of research and technological advancements, the United States is able to produce quality luxurius knit fabrics that were once only obtainable by Italian mills. This breakthrough has been achieved because of the breeding of Supima cotton, a variety grown only in the western and southwestern United States. Supima has a superio..

Genetic Control of Dark Wool Fibers.

Malcolm Fleet, a research officer at the Turretfield Centre of the South australian Research and Development Institue, recently proposed to reduce the percentage of pigmented fibers in the Australian wool clip by genetic control. Fleet indentified three major characteristics of sheep that foreshadow the possible occurrence of brown or bla..

Australian Invention Enables Cotton Growers to Use 75 Percent Less Water.

Australian inventor Ken Uzzell's probe accurately measures soil moisture without being affected by chemicals, fertilizers, sewage, or earth movements caused by tractors or ground tremors. The patented plastic tube and crushed rock probe measures to within an accuracy of +/-1 percent, according to Uzzell. When in operation, the probes are ..

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) -- A prospective Fiber Crop in Bangladesh.

Kenaf, which is grown in the tropics, is an herbaceous annual plant in the family Malvaceae. In use, kenaf frequently substitutes for jute. Some of the processing stages, such as retting, are similar. An important use for kenaf is in paper production, in which both the bark and wood core are pulped. The types of paper made from kenaf rang..

Cyanobacteria -- Its Biomass Production and Use.

Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae contain chlorophyll, but are similar in morphology to bacteria. Although unicellular, cyanobacteria form colonies held together by a pelatinous capsule. Cyanobacteria grow abundantly in jute fields where they act as nitrogen fixers, providing fertilizer to the plants. Another use of cyanobacteria is in re..

Most Expensive Crop Ever.

Because of low yields in 1993, a projected ARP of 17.5 percent, and increased production costs due to insect infestation and increased insecticide costs, United States cotton growers are planning to reduce planted acreage in 1994 to 12,316,500 acres--down from 13.6 million acres in 1993> If the ARP is reduced, planted acreage estimates wi..

Cottonseed -- Continuing Consolidation Reflects Changes in Technology, Use.

Consolidation in the United States cottonseed industry means fewer and fewer mills are crushing larger amounts of seed. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 900 mills crushing seed. Presently, there are about 40 mills handling the entire seed volume. The four major uses of cottonseed are planting, oil, feed, and export. Crushi..

Pest Resistant Cottons Released in India.

Two cotton varieties resistant to insect pests were released in India during 1988 and 1989. Adadhita and Arunabha cottons are resistant to both sucking pests and boll and stem pests. The two varieties are also resistant to cotton leaf diseases. Adadhita produces up to 1.8 tons per hectare of seed cotton under rainfed conditions. Arunabha ..

Ethanol from Cotton Stalks.

Growing cotton yields a large quantity of stalks that have to be removed to minimize carryover of insects. Compost and fuel are currently the main uses for these stalks. Researchers in Australia are investigating the possibility of extracting ethanol from these stalks. Ethanol is an alcohol widely used as fuel for internal combustion engi..