B. Tech.

Textile - 2020

COTTON CULTIVATION AND COTTON HARVESTING (PICKING)

Cultivation of Cotton in India

• In India there are two methods which are generally used for cultivation of cotton, Cultivation
by Irrigation, Cultivation depending on the Rainfall. The cultivation is affected by following
factors:

• Selection of land: The pH of the land should range between 6–8. The soil should be medium
black to deep black. Saline soil is not suitable for cultivation.

• Seed Selection: Higher quality seeds result into superior quality of cotton fiber production.
Any compromise in seed selection can drastically hamper the production.

• Preparation of land for cultivation:

• Prior to sowing, the land has to be prepared by ploughing it 3-4 times at right angles to each
other (The primary purpose of ploughing is to turn over the upper layer of the soil, bringing
fresh nutrients to the surface)

• After first ploughing wait for first shower of rain.

• Now second ploughing is carried out for preparation of ground.

• Ridges are prepared for sowing the seeds (but the sowing place should be changed as that
of previous year).

• Sowing in Maharashtra starts around June, July and In Punjab it starts in May while in south
zone it starts in October.

• Chopping or Thinning operation is to be carried out once in 2 months so that the two plants
are placed properly.

• Hoeing is carried out in order to clear the weeds and open the soil.

• The ground is prepared around the plants to prevent excessive evaporation of moisture.

• When the plants grow to 1 mt Height the leaves on the lower side are removed for better
nourishment of pod and the seeds inside it.

• As growth continues the seeds get covered with cotton fibers. Usually a seed is enclosed
with 4000 fibers around it.

• The cotton balls are exposed to sunlight to remove the extra moisture from it.

• After completing the full growth, the cotton balls burst & the fibers are exposed fully to the
sunlight.

• Picking is carried out after a week of this period

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Land preparation

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COTTON HARVESTING –

• HAND PICKING:
• The production of the labor varies from 250-300 lbs. of seed cotton.
• This cotton picking is skillful so useful for the fine varieties.
• This type of plucking is generally carried out were the workers can be cheaply available
• In this process the workers are approaching the cotton plants and plucking only the seed
cotton from the cotton plants and store in the bucket.
• The labours are generally paid as per the quality and quantity of the cotton picked. So, the
cotton quality picked by this process will be good.
• Hand-picked cotton contains limited and sizable proportion of trash.
• In Egypt and Sudan, 10 to 12 distinct pickings are made by the hand to pick only the
mature bolls.
• The quality of the first picked boll is the best and there is a slight drop in the quality for
the subsequent pickings.
• In this process, sorting of good quality cotton is possible.

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MECHANICAL PICKING –

• In foreign countries, mechanical picking is used because, here population is not so dense and
most of the farmers possess large land areas. Moreover, as the population is small, the labours are
not easily available

• The production of mechanical picking is 600-800 kg per day.

• The process of plucking cotton from cotton plants using some mechanical picking machines is
called as mechanical picking.

• before the mechanical picking, there is another treatment required called defoliation in order to
reduce the contamination.

• Mechanical picking is generally adopted for large field areas.

• In USA like countries, the cotton is grown on vast fields and there is an acute shortage of the
labour. So, the mechanical picking is adopted.

• In case of mechanical picking, supervisor is not required.

• No malpractices are carried.

• The number of workers are less.

• Advantages of Mechanical Picking:

• In case of mechanical picking, supervisor is not required.

• No chances of malpractices.

• The number of workers required are less.

• The production of mechanical picking is 600-800 kg per day whereas it is 250-300 lbs per day per
labor for hand picking

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DEFOLIATION PROCESS –

• It helps in reducing the chances of contamination of cotton due to leaves and stem in the
mechanically picked cotton which will either reduce the performance of ginning by increasing the
trash content in the delivered seedless cotton.

• It is used before the mechanical picking of cotton.

• It helps in reducing the contamination in the mechanically picked cotton.

• It is a process of spraying a special type of chemical on the cotton crop in order to fall off the
dried leaves and branches of the plant

• It facilitates easy mechanical harvesting of the cotton.

• It is also needed to be applicable if there are green bolls along with open leaves.

• In defoliation there use of synthetic chemicals to enhance leaf removal and allow the harvesting
of a cotton crop in a time.

• There are basically two types of chemical defoliation,

• Herbicidal – Herbicidal defoliants such as PPO inhibitors, ETX, Folex and sharpen. It
injure the plant. This process results in increasing the production of ethylene which
promotes the formation of the abscission layer in the leaf and ultimately leaf drops.

• Hormonal – Hormonal defoliants are thidiazuron and ethephon. This process increases the
ethylene synthesis in the plant and resulting in the activation of the abscission layer in the leaf
petioles and boll wall leading to the fallowing of green cotton bolls.

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Country Hand picking Machine picking

Argentina 25 75

Australia - 100

Brazil 90 – 95 5 – 10

China (Mainland) 100 -

Greece 8 92

India 100 -

Pakistan 100 -

Turkey 100 -

USA - 100

Uzbekistan 60 -70 30- 40

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3.6. COMPARE BETWEEN HAND PICKING AND MECHANICAL PICKING:

HAND PICKING MECHANICAL PICKING

1) The hand picking is generally on small 1) The mechanical picking is done on large
field area. field area.
2) Selection of good quality cotton is not
2) Selection of good quality cotton is
possible as mechanical pickers cannot be
possible.
selective.
3) Hand-picked cotton contains limited
3) It contains large trash.
trash.
4) It is cheap in India. 4) It is cheap in USA.
5) It is costly in USA. 5) It is costly in India.
6) Large number of
6) Less number of workers is required.
workers is required.

7) The production of cotton is less about 7) The production of cotton is about 600 to
250 to 300 lbs per labour per day. 800 kgs per day.

8)Pick bolls one plant at a time 8) Picks four rows of plants at a time

9)Takes 9 minutes to pick 20 plants 9) Takes 30 seconds to pick 12000 plants

10) Pick 8 to 10 hours 10) Can pick 24 hours a day

11) Food and water used as fuel 11) Uses gasoline for fuel
12) Can pick 100,000 to 190,000 pounds per
12) Can pick 1/9 of a pound per minute
day

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FLOW CHART FOR CARDED YARN MANUFACTURING –

5.4. MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF THE CARDED YARN:

Carded yarn is a yarn which can be made from all length of fibres from the raw
material. Generally, carded yarn has less strength, less uniformness, more absorption
ability, more comfort, less cost than the combed yarn. The sequence of machines required
for manufacturing of carded yarn is as shown below,

Bale MIXING Open cotton

Open cotton BLOWROOM Lap or sheet

Lap or sheet CARDING Carded sliver

Carded sliver DRAWFRAME(BREAKER) Sliver

Sliver DRAWFRAME(FINISHER) Sliver

Sliver SPEEDFRAME Roving

Roving RINGFRAME Yarn on ring bobbin

Yarn on ring bobbin WINDING Cone or chease

Cone or chease PACKING Box packed

BLOW ROOM LINE –

M.B.O coarse opener online mixing fine opener or cleaner chute feed)

C/D D/F S/F WINDING

B/R LAP R/F YARN
SLIVER SLIVER ROVING YARN

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5.6. MANUFACTURING OF COMBED YARN:

Combed yarn is the yarn in which during the processing predetermined length of
short fibres are removed. Combed yarn has more strength, more uniformness, less
absorption, less comfort than the carded yarn. Also, the appearance of combed yarn is better
than the carded yarn. The fabrics made from combed yarn facilitate better printing effect.
It improves the quality of the fabric.

Bale MIXING Open cotton

Open cotton BLOWROOM Lap or sheet

Lap or sheet CARDING Sliver

Sliver COMBER PREPARITORY Lap

Lap COMBER Sliver

Sliver POSTCOMB DRAWFRAME Sliver

Sliver SPEEDFRAME Roving

Roving RINGFRAME Yarn as ring bobbin

Yarn as ring bobbin WINDING Cone or cheese

Cone or cheese PACKING Box packed

SUPER -LAP COMBER POSTCOMB WINDING

B/R LAP C/D SLIVER S/F ROVING R/F YARN
LAP SLIVER D/F SLIVER YARN

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5.8. MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF THE UNCONVENTIONAL YARN.

Unconventional yarn is a special purpose yarn. Example: rotor yarn

bale MIXING open cotton

open cotton BLOWROOM lap or sheet

lap or sheet CARDING sliver

sliver DRAWFRAME(BREAKER) sliver

sliver DRAWFRAME(FINISHER) sliver

sliver OPEN END OR AIR JET FRAME yarn

yarn WINDING cone or cheese

cone or cheese PACKING box packed

C/D D/F OPEN WINDING

B/R LAP
SLIVER SLIVER END YARN YARN

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Objects of Spinning Departments –

1) Cotton Mixing –
 Reduce production cost.
 Enhances spinnability of material.
 Improves product quality.
 Maintains the consistency of the material.
 Average outs the fibre properties.
 Helps for the further settings of next machines.
2) Blow room –
 Opening of material.
 Cleaning of opened material.
 Removal of micro dust.
 Blending of material.
 Removal of contamination.
 Removal of metal particles
 Even feed to the card.

3) Carding Objects –

 Opening to the individual fibers.

 Elimination of impurities.
 Elimination of Micro Dust.
 Disentangling / Removal of neps.
 Elimination of short fibers.
 Fiber Blending.
 Sliver formation.

4) Draw frame Objects –

 Attenuation of sliver by drafting.

 Improve sliver evenness by doubling.
 Attain required blend ratio by blending.
 To achieve longitudinal blending by drafting.
 Removal of micro-dust.
 To deliver consistent sliver weight per unit length by use of autoleveler.
 Collection of delivered sliver in the required form.

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5) Speed Frame –

 Attenuation of sliver to form roving by drafting (about 10 to 16).

 To insert slight amount of twist to withstand unwinding tension on ring frame creel.
 To form a suitable feed package for ring frame.
 Removal of trailing fibre hooks during drafting.

6) Ring Frame –

 Formation of final spinning product i.e. yarn.

 Insert required amount of twist in the yarn.
 To produce fancy effects in the yarn.
 Removal of trailing fibre hooks during drafting.
 To produce double yarn i.e. SIRO yarn.

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