ABSTRACT

The microbial effects and the effects on fiber quality of stored cotton bales that had been treated with moderate amounts of excess moisture were examined. The target moisture contents were 10%, 8%, 6% and a non-treated control bale. The actual initial moisture content were 9.5%, 8.0%, 5.4% and 5.0%, respectively. When the bales were opened for sampling, the control and low-level moisture treatment bales gained moisture while the high-level moisture treated bales lost moisture. The bale moisture content tended to equilibrate to between 6% and 7% during storage so a lower weight bale would most likely be delivered to the end user with the higher moisture treated bales. No practical differences were observed for cotton dust potential, or fiber quality, especially in regards to color grade, reflectance or yellowness, resulted from the different water treatments. Differences in microbial activity indicated lower viable populations with increasing moisture contents, but this was expected and did not appear to have any practical significance, which was borne out by the lack of differences in fiber quality.