Impact of Storage Condition on Fiber Quality and Color

The majority of cotton produced in the United States is exported.  Baled lint is stored for an average of approximately 18 months before processing in textile mills.  The duration and environmental conditions of cotton storage and shipping can impact cotton quality in terms of color and possibly processing.  The most notable change is that the +b value for some bales increases between classing and processing overseas.  A long term project is underway in which 12 bales were ginned from a single module and subjected to long term storage under various conditions.  Standard physical testing and a variety of chemical analyses were performed on the samples as well as textile processing to examine changes in the fiber quality due to storage condition.