University of California Cooperative Extension Staff members intiated a project during the 1983 harvest season to evaluate the effect of various storage factors on the quality of cotton stored in modules in the San Joaquin Valley. The project was prompted by grower concern over reductions in lint and seed quality that have occurred, particularly during late, wet harvest seasons.

Specific objectives of the project were to study: 1) the effect of seed cotton moisture level on module temperatures during storage, 2) the effect of seed cotton moisture level, storage time and resulting temperatures on lint quality, seed germination and oil properties, 3) the relationship between weather factors and the moisture content of seed cotton, lint and seed at harvest time, and 4) the accuracy of meters used to measure seed cotton moisture in the field at harvest time. A separate sub-project was developed to study the measurement of seed cotton moisture (objective 4) and the results of that study are reported in a separate paper in the Proceedings of this conference.

This report covers only the effect of seed cotton moisture and temperature conditions on fiber quality. It is based on a preliminary analysis of the date and is presented in summary form.