Variation and Application of AFIS Fiber Length Distributions

Fiber length is one of the primary quality parameters for the cotton industry when considering a cotton’s textile performance and end-use quality. Currently all decisions regarding cotton fiber length utilize the industry standard measurement device the HVI. However, it is documented that complete fiber length distributions hold more information than the currently reported HVI length parameters, UHML and UI. What is currently not known is how much additional information the AFIS length distribution holds. The objective of this research is to investigate the stability of differences in within-sample variation in fiber length captured by the AFIS length distribution. Once the stability of these measurements is established, a diverse breeding population is developed to investigate the ways in which within-sample length variation can vary between and within families and the advantages of using the complete distribution in comparison with two parameters in characterizing a diverse population.