ABSTRACT

Moisture restoration practices were surveyed in 20 gins in Mississippi and Arkansas in September-November 2003. The types of moisture restoration systems surveyed were: 1) lint slide grid, 2) humidified air at/near the battery condenser, 3) direct water spray at the lint slide, and 4) combinations of 1 and 3, or 2 and 3. For this survey, one sample was taken from each bale before moisture restoration and another one after moisture restoration for 25 consecutive bales of cotton on three or more different days at each gin during the season. Initial moisture contents averaged for individual gins ranged from 3.0 to 5.8%, and final moisture contents averaged for individual gins ranged from 3.6 to 7.3%. The simple average across all samples and gins for initial and final moisture contents was 4.4% and 5.4%; respectively, thus about 5 pounds of moisture was added per bale. Bales may be stored safely at moisture levels below 7.5%. However, 7.8% of the bales were above the National Cotton Council recommended storage moisture of 7.5%. Twelve of the 20 surveyed gins produced bales that exceeded the 7.5% recommended moisture level, most of these occurred at gins using the direct spray method (22.9%) of moisture restoration. These bales may experience color degradation during extended storage.