Processing problems in textile mills have been linked to seed coat fragments (SCF), and prevention of SCF during ginning is one important goal of cotton ginning research. The primary objective of this experiment was to determine if seed-cotton cleaners used prior to the extractor-feeder/gin stand change SCF levels in ginned lint. Several cottons were processed at different moisture contents with different seed cotton cleaners, and lint samples collected at the battery condenser were analyzed manually for SCF and motes. Samples were also analyzed with the Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) for seed coat neps (SCN) and neps. Analysis of lint samples revealed that SCF content for cotton processed with either a cylinder cleaner (14.4 SCF/g lint) or stick machine (13.7 SCF/g lint) before the extractor-feeder/gin stand was not found to differ statistically (p<0.05) from cotton processed with only the extractor-feeder/gin stand (14.0 SCF/g lint). In most cases the same was true for the number of AFIS SCN, but AFIS neps were increased with the cylinder cleaner or stick machine. Also, the SCF content of 15.4 SCF/g lint for cotton processed with a standard machine sequence (cylinder cleaner, stick machine, cylinder cleaner, extractor-feeder/gin stand, and two lint cleaners) was not found to be statistically higher than lint processed with only an extractor-feeder/gin stand and two lint cleaners (15.2 SCF/g lint). Again, this was generally true for the number of AFIS SCN, but AFIS neps were increased with the additional seed cotton cleaners. In conclusion, seed cotton cleaners were not found to increase SCF levels in comparison to the extractor-feeder/gin stand. Since the baseline treatment for comparison (the extractor-feeder/gin stand) included some seed cotton cleaning, the conclusion could not be made that seed cotton cleaners do not produce SCF, but the finding that additional seed cotton cleaners produced no additional SCF was important due to the importance of these machines in removing other unwanted material from seed cotton.
