ABSTRACT
The textile industry is now modern and highly automated using high-speed processing equipment and new spinning systems. More higher quality products are being produced. Because of these developments and new cotton fiber marketing guidelines, production agriculture faces new challenges and opportunities to manage the crop for higher quality fiber. There are economic incentives for producing some qualities of cotton; however, there are none for producing cotton free of stickiness, motes, neps, dead fiber or seedcoat fragments. Nonetheless, today's mills require a high quality cotton to run efficiently and to maintain end-product quality standards. Some of these qualities, stickiness for example, can be influenced by entomological practices, but in most cases, it is not fully understood how insects affect the quality and textile performance of cotton. New marketing guidelines and textile mill demands for high quality, contaminant-free fiber are sufficient incentives for production agriculture to pursue programs that encourage production of a higher quality crop.
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