Spinning Performances of West Texas Upland Cottons

The shrinking U.S. textile manufacturing industry dictates an increased reliance on the international market for selling U.S. cotton. As example, approximately three-fourth of the 2007 U.S. cotton crop has been exported. This process, in turn, is transforming the requirements on fiber properties.  The U.S. industry has long been focused on the production of medium and coarse yarns and has long emphasized open-end rotor spinning, rather than ring spinning. However, the focus of the dominant international textile industries is on the finer yarns and on ring spinning. Therefore, cotton breeding programs have developed new and improved germplasm for use in Texas. We will present some results on combed ring spun yarns made from West Texas cottons.