ABSTRACT
Textile mills use the term "sticky cotton" to describe cotton lint which literally sticks to moving machinery parts. Stickiness generally is associated with insect-produced honeydew, but it can occur as a result of stickiness due to natural plant sugars. Whitefly and aphid populations have increased in recent years and have caused an increase in sitcky cotton problems in textile processing. Insect management at the farm level must be improved so that mill production problems can be minimized. Mills, in the event that stickiness is encountered, can store suspected sticky bales, lower the number of sticky bales in the laydown mix, turn to another growth area for cotton, lower the humidity, reduce card crush roll pressure, and use fiber lubricant on problem sites. Today's high-speed mill processing is more sensitive to cotton stickiness. Therefore, reducing the incidence of stickiness in U.S. cotton is now a tip priority.
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