ABSTRACT

The impact of spraying moisture on cotton fiber at the lint slide, packaging the bales at universal density, and storing the bales for 149 days at atmospheric conditions was evaluated in this study. About 40, 38, 28, 19, 12, and 0 (control) pounds of water were sprayed on fiber at the lint slide to six bales of cotton before storage. Initial lint moistures prior to moisture addition were about 4.8%. Moisture contents after the over spray was applied were 12.7, 10.4, 12.0, 8.5, 4.8 and 7.4%. After the bale storage phase was completed, the final moisture contents were 8.2, 7.0, 7.6, 6.4, 6.1, and 6.6%. The bale without any over spray increased from 4.8 to 6.1% moisture content during storage and the bale with 12 pounds of water added changed its moisture content from 7.4 to 6.6%. All bales that had moisture added lost weight during storage. The initial HVI color was 31 for all bales except the control bale that was color 32. After storage, the bales initially above 8.5% moisture were graded Middling Light Spot (32) as compared to 31 before storage. Caution should be exercised when applying moisture to cotton before long term storage and bales should be stored at below 8% moisture content, wet basis, regardless of bale covering materials.