Ginning Efficiency in Upland Cotton - a Value Added Trait in Cotton Improvement.

Ginning Efficiency in Upland Cotton – a value added trait in Cotton Improvement In the past few years, there has been a consorted effort between cotton geneticists and ginning engineers to understand ‘ginning efficiency’ in upland cotton. Ginning efficiency includes ginning rate (measured in g lint sec-1) and net gin stand energy (measured in Wh kg-1 lint). Improved ginning efficiency incorporates both reduced net gin stand energy usage (that above idling) and increased ginning rate. Tests for ginning efficiency have indicated that significant differences between conventional and transgenic cultivars existed. These differences were attributed to fiber-seed attachment forces. Cultivars with lower attachment forces consumed the least amount of net gin stand energy. It was also found that ginning rates were consistently negatively correlated with fuzz percent and positively correlated with net gin stand energy. Fuzz percent also had higher heritability and higher genetic advances from selection when compared to ginning rate and net gin stand energy. It is also faster and cheaper to measure and therefore can be used as a selection criteria for ginning efficiency. So far, enough ginning and genetic information has been collected to enable cotton breeders to include ginning efficiency as a value-added trait in cotton improvement.