Effects of planting patterns on yield, quality, and defoliation in machine-harvested cotton

The aim of this study was to elucidate the effects of different machine-harvested cotton-planting patterns on defoliation,yield,and fiber quality in cotton and to provide support for improving the quality of machine-harvested cotton.In the 2015 and 2016 growing seasons,the Xinluzao 45(XLZ45)and Xinluzao 62(XLZ62)cultivars,which are primarily cultivated in northern Xinjiang,were used as study materials.Conventional wide-narrow row(WNR),wide and ultra-narrow row(UNR),wide-row spacing with high density(HWR),and wide-row spacing with low density(LWR)planting patterns were used to assess the effects of planting patterns on defoliation,yield,and fiber quality.Compared with WNR,the seed cotton yields were significantly decreased by 2.06–5.48%for UNR and by 2.50–6.99%for LWR,respectively.The main cause of reduced yield was a reduction in bolls per unit area.The variation in HWR yield was–1.07–1.07%with reduced bolls per unit area and increased boll weight,thus demonstrating stable production.In terms of fiber quality indicators,the planting patterns only showed significant effects on the micronaire value,with wide-row spacing patterns showing an increase in the micronaire values.The defoliation and boll-opening results showed that the number of leaves and dried leaves in HWR was the lowest among the four planting patterns.Prior to the application of defoliating agent and before machine-harvesting,the numbers of leaves per individual plant in HWR were decreased by 14.45 and 25.00%on average,respectively,compared with WNR,while the number of leaves per unit area was decreased by 27.44 and 36.21%on average,respectively.The rates of boll-opening and defoliation in HWR were the highest.Specifically,the boll-opening rate before defoliation and machine-harvesting in HWR was 44.54 and 5.94%higher on average than in WNR,while the defoliation rate prior to machine-harvesting was 3.45%higher on average than in WNR.The numbers of ineffective defoliated leaves and leaf trash in HWR were the lowest,decreased by 33.40 and 32.43%,respectively,compared with WNR.In conclusion,the HWR planting pattern is associated with a high and stable yield,does not affect fiber quality,promotes early maturation,and can effectively decrease the amount of leaf trash in machine-picked seed cotton,and thus its use is able to improve the quality of machine-harvested cotton.

Fiber damage of machine-harvested cotton before ginning and after lint cleaning

Machine harvesting increases the foreign matter content of seed cotton. Excessive cleaning causes fiber damage and economic loss. Most trading companies in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China have indicated reluctance to use machine-harvested cotton. The first objective was to determine how the fiber quality was affected by the ginning and lint cleaning and how the fiber damage during levels of lint cleaning changed. The second objective was to determine the optimum number of lint cleaners for machine-harvested cotton based on fiber damage. Cotton samples were collected from 13 fields and processed in seven ginneries between 2013 and 2015. The results indicated that ginning and lint cleaning didn＇t have significant effect on fiber strength and significantly affected both fiber length and short fiber index. Fiber length was reduced by more than 1.00 mm from six of 13 fields after lint cleaning, then the damage rate on short fiber index from 11 of 13 fields was more than 20%. The third lint cleaning caused great fiber damage, reducing fiber length by 0.35 mm and increasing short fiber index by 0.65%. So, the lint should be cleaned by one lint cleaner in the Xinjiang, however, the stage of lint cleaning was sometimes omitted when the foreign matter content of lint was little.

Experimental study and simulation on the creep characteristics of machineharvested seed cotton

In view of the unclear understanding of the basic scientific problems such as the rheological mechanism of seed cotton,especially the lack of research on the creep characteristics of seed cotton,the machine-harvested seed cotton in the Xinjiang region was taken as the research object to find out the compression creep characteristics.The universal material testing machine was used to carry out a one-factor creep test,taking moisture content,feed quality,compression times,and trash content as test factors and instantaneous elastic modulus,hysteretic elastic modulus,viscosity coefficient,and delay time as test indicators.The ANOVA and correlation were analyzed by SPSS,and the creep process of the seed cotton was simulated by ADAMS.Results show that moisture content significantly affects the instantaneous elastic modulus,hysteretic elastic modulus,and viscosity coefficient(p<0.01).In addition,each value of which decreases with the increase in moisture content.Feed quality significantly affects the hysteretic elastic modulus and viscosity coefficient(p<0.05).Moreover,the hysteretic elastic modulus and viscosity coefficient increase with the increase in feed quality.The compression times significantly influence the instantaneous elastic modulus,hysteretic elastic modulus,and viscosity coefficient(p<0.01),each value of which increases with the increase of compression times.Furthermore,the trash content significantly influenced the hysteretic elastic modulus and viscosity coefficient(p<0.05).The absolute error between the simulated and experimental values ek is within−0.011-0.030 mm,and the relative errorφk is less than 7%.The experimental results can provide theoretical and data support for the study of rheological characteristics of machine-harvested seed cotton,the design of seed cotton packing devices,and the molding quality of cotton bale(mold).