Variation in the advanced fiber information system cotton fiber length-by-number distribution captured by high volume instrument fiber length parameters

Abstract

Variation in cotton fiber length impacts processability at the mill and the quality of spun yarns. The High Volume Instrument (HVI) and Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) are cotton fiber quality assessment instruments able to quickly assess a myriad of fiber quality characteristics. HVI testing provides the fiber length parameters most widely utilized by the cotton industry, Upper Half Mean Length and Uniformity Index. However, HVI fiber length parameters do not account for the complete within-sample variation in fiber length, such as the shortest fibers in the sample. AFIS testing is able to characterize the complete within-sample distribution of fiber length within a sample of cotton by evaluating individual fibers. Within-sample variation in fiber length is an important cotton fiber quality concern because it impacts processing performance and yarn quality. In this paper, the fiber length for 9127 commercial cotton bales was evaluated on both HVI and AFIS. The AFIS length distributions are used to characterize the complete distribution of fiber length within each bale. A novel statistical technique is introduced and is used to characterize a set of multivariate axes that characterize the total within-bale variation in fiber length among the complete set of commercial bales. These results suggest that less than half of the variation in cotton fiber length captured by the AFIS length distributions is captured by the two length parameters provided by HVI testing. If an experimental factor has no significant impact on an HVI fiber quality parameter, an alternative cotton fiber length measurement such as the AFIS length distribution should be considered.

Stability, variation, and application of AFIS fiber length distributions

“…The length distribution measurement is reported by AFIS as a length-frequency histogram. The first step in developing a quantitative measure of differences in the length distribution by number is to convert this measurement into a length-response distribution (Kelly and Hequet 2017). This conversion preserves the variation captured by the AFIS length distribution by number while making length the response variable and provides a basis for stability assessment of length measurement.…”

“…Due to their importance in marketing, the broader cotton research community uses these parameters to help predict the type of spinning performance which they might expect from a given sample (El Mogahzy et al 1990). However, these fiber quality parameters do not capture all the variations in fiber length within a sample or bale (Kelly and Hequet 2017). Standard HVI fiber length parameters cannot consistently distinguish important differences in length variation between bales that affect spinning performance.…”

“…Selection work establishing the importance of the AFIS length distribution in breeding for improved yarn quality was performed by Kelly et al (2013). If the differences of shape characteristics in the length distribution prove to contribute to better yarn quality, they could be quantified and targeted for improvement through breeding (Wakeham 1955;Krifa 2006;Kelly and Hequet 2017).…”

Effects of non-lint material on heritability estimates of cotton fiber length parameters

“…Different spinning technologies and end products will need fibers with a different set of quality properties. For example, fiber length is essential for ring spinning, but the fibers must also be strong and mature, or they will break during processing (Elhawary 2014; Kelly and Hequet 2018).…”

“…The AFIS measures properties of individual fibers and creates by-number distributions related to fiber quality attributes, such as length (Shofner et al 1995). Researchers typically compare treatments based on parameters extracted from these distributions; such as short fiber content by number (SFCn) (the percentage of fibers with a length equal or smaller than 12.5 mm), the mean fiber length by number (Ln), and the 5% longer fibers by number (L5%) (Kelly et al 2013;Kelly and Hequet 2018). The AFIS also generates fiber distributions by-weight.…”