Spatial Turnout on Stripper Harvested Cotton

Stripper harvested seed cotton contains more foreign matter than picker harvested cotton(Kerby et al., 1986; Baker et al., 1994; Faulkner et al., 2011a), and the quality of stripper harvested fiber is often lower than that of picker harvested lint (Faulkner et al., 2011b).  Unlike picker harvesters, which use spindles to remove seed cotton from open bolls, stripper harvesters use brushes and bats to indiscriminately remove seed cotton, bolls, leaves, and other plant parts from the stem of the plant.  Stripper harvesting is primarily confined to the Southern High Plains of the US due to several factors including:  low humidity levels during daily harvest intervals, tight boll conformations, and compact plant structures adapted to withstand harsh weather during the harvest season, and reduced yield potential due to limited rainfall and irrigation capacity.

                Trash content as related to lint turnout is not consistent throughout a cotton field.  Thus a producer using a stripper harvester to strip cotton can see variability from area to area and especially from cotton module to cotton module in gin turnout.  Obtaining a quantification of spatial lint turnout throughout a cotton field and obtaining it’s relation to a measureable parameter in the field will allow producers to harvest top quality cotton together, ensuring they are paid premium price for that fiber.  The producer will also be able to better identify the cotton with a lower gin turnout and higher trash content, ensuring his top quality fiber is not penalized due to module blending.