2007 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) 1. Develop technologies for production, harvesting, and storage that directly impact gin plant operation, gin product quality, and textile mill operation. 2. Develop new and improved processing, sensing and control technologies for superior fiber/seed separation, foreign matter identification and extraction, accurate online cotton properties measurement and efficient process control to produce higher quality fiber more economically for optimal textile utility. 3. Develop new technologies and alternative uses for cotton production systems, ginning equipment, lint, seed, and gin by-products to increase the value of gin-related products. 4. Develop new knowledge and technology for assessent and remediation to assist with ginning industry safety and environmental regulatory compliance. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) The approach will be to combine well-defined experiments, testing specific hypotheses, with long-term, higher risk exploration of innovative concepts that may lead to new technologies. The laboratory interdisciplinary team of 5 ARS scientists, 10 Federal employees and various other support personnel brings collaborative relationships and diverse experience together to focus on 17 projects directly supporting the laboratory research program. 3.Progress Report The scope of this project covers all aspects of the cotton industry, including new variety development, harvesting, saw and roller ginning, emission monitoring and control, cotton quality effects on textile processing and regional cotton companion crops. Current research cooperators include university, commercial, private, state and national ginning organization, and other USDA laboratory personnel. This annual report will not list a completed significant accomplishment, but substantial progress has been made on most laboratory and cooperative research ongoing under the main as well as the subordinate projects. This laboratory is currently the only ARS laboratory doing cotton harvesting research. A significant investment has been made by ARS and Cotton Inc. in developing an experimental spindle-picker that is capable of independently varying ground travel and picking machinery operational speeds. This unit will be used by several projects during the next few harvest seasons to quantify cotton fiber quality damage occurring at harvest as well as qualifying experimental picking component designs. Cotton fiber quality remains a central focus to the industry, and several projects under the parent CRIS project are concentrating on fiber quality as affected by individual ginning system machines and machine components. Fiber moisture measurement and control is an important cotton quality parameter and is currently being investigated through a cooperative evaluation of existing moisture meters as well as evaluating the potential of using other means than heated air to dry cotton. Technology transfer is an important component of the research program. This laboratory continues to be proactive in transferring technology to the industry through several organized training schools and technical meetings. In addition, laboratory personnel give numerous ginning demonstrations and related talks to various groups of students and the general public throughout the year. This laboratory’s published research on cotton and its frequent contact with other institutions and the public continue to open up new research opportunities, not only on cotton, but on related problems in companion crops. 6.Technology Transfer Number of new CRADAs and MTAs 2 Number of active CRADAs and MTAs 4 Number of invention disclosures submitted 1 Number of web sites managed 1 Number of non-peer reviewed presentations and proceedings 16 Number of newspaper articles and other presentations for non-science audiences 21 Review Publications Faulkner, W., Buser, M.D., Whitelock, D.P., Shaw, B. 2007. Effects of cyclone diameter on performance of 1D3D cyclones: Collection efficiency. Transactions of the ASABE. 50(3):1053-1059. Chun, D.T., Mcalister, D.D., Hughs, S.E., Cobb, D.R. 2006. Microbial census and evidence for a direct temporal effect of bale moisture with color grade during a 6 month storage. Journal of Cotton Science. 10:201-209. Armijo, C.B., Holt, G.A., Baker, K.D., Hughs, S.E., Barnes, E.M., Gillum, M.N. 2006. Harvesting and ginning a cotton with a fragile seed coat. Journal of Cotton Science. 10:311-318. Whitelock, D.P., Buser, M.D. 2007. Multiple series cyclones for high particulate matter concentrations. Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 23(2):131-136. Armijo, C.B., Gillum, M.N. 2006. High speed roller ginning of upland cotton. Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 23(2):137-143. Zhang, J.F., Lu, Y., Adragna, H., Hughs, S.E. 2005. Genetic improvement of New Mexico acala cotton germplasm and their genetic diversity. Crop Science. 45:2363-2373. Fletcher, R.S., Showler, A., Funk, P.A. 2007. Surveying thermally-defoliated cotton plots with color-infrared aerial photography. Crop Management [online]. Available: http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/cm/. Buser, M.D., Whitelock, D.P., Holt, G.A., Armijo, C.B., Wang, L. 2007. Collection efficiency evaluation of baffle-type pre-separator configurations: Effects of baffle location and inlet velocities. Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 23(3):347-355.