Use of Near Infrared Spectroscopy in Cotton Micronaire Assessment

Micronaire is one of important cotton properties as it reflects fiber maturity and fineness. Automation-based high volume instrumentation (HVI^TM) measurement has been well established as a primary and routine tool of providing fiber micronaire and other quality properties to cotton breeders and fiber processors. This study examined the potential of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy for the prediction of cotton micronaire, by validating the calibration model with an independent validation set and also with additional crop-year fibers. Results indicated that the development of a robust NIR model for micronaire assessment is feasible and could be utilized to screen micronaire component of different crop-year cottons at remote / breeding locations.