Project Number: 6235-41000-006-28
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Oct 01, 2008
End Date: Sep 30, 2010

Objective:
The objective is for the USDA, ARS, Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory to cooperate with the USDA, AMS, Cotton and Tobacco Program to develop a system, including both software and hardware, to automatically qualify and quantify leaf and extraneous matter content of cotton bale samples according to AMS guidelines.

Approach:
The project plan is for AMS to supply commercial cotton bale samples whose standard AMS classification covers the desired range of leaf and extraneous matter content. Images of these bale samples will be evaluated for extraneous matter and leaf content using ARS developed software. The ARS results will be compared to the AMS classer calls on individual samples to determine levels of size and count that classify cotton samples for differing levels of extraneous matter and leaf grades. This will be an iterative process that will require several rounds of measurement and comparison of ARS and AMS results on several hundred cotton samples for each round. During the process, it will be necessary for AMS to critically evaluate the imaging results relative to their guidelines as the procedure for determination of extraneous matter, which has been subject to human judgment on a per sample basis, is developed into a machine based determination.