The mission of the Cotton Quality Research Station (CQRS) is to two-fold: a) to determine the effect of different varieties and growths of cotton and of different cultural, harvesting and ginning practices on processing and yarn quality b) to develop and evaluate instruments for the objective measurement of the quality of cotton for marketing and utilization purposes.

Some of our recent accompliishments include: a) demonstration that cotton surface chemistry greatly affects yarn processing efficiency and quality; b) development of practical, rapid detection and mitigation methods for cotton stickiness; and c)determination that restored moisture above 8% results in deteriorating fiber quality and poor yarn properties.

Some of our new initiatives include the revitalization of our mini-spinning operation (a system for producing yarns from samples ranging between 50 and 500 g) and the restoration of the annual leading cotton variety spinning trials.