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Plastic contamination in US lint bales has increased with the adoption of new cotton harvesters that form cylindrical or round modules on the machine. It is of significant interest to the US cotton industry to reduce this contamination to preserve grower profitability and the reputation of the US as a reliable source of clean cotton fiber. The objective of this work is to describe the design and operation of a system for use on cotton gin module feeders that provides monitoring of plastic accumulation on the dispersing cylinders and video data to help document the module wrap condition and unloading/unwrapping procedures that may have caused the potential contamination event on the dispersing cylinders. In 2020, an integrated plastic contamination monitoring system was installed on module feeders at two commercial cotton gins in Texas. The system is comprised of sub-systems that provide images of plastic accumulation on the dispersing cylinders, a log of the processing sequence for round modules, video data of the unloading/unwrapping process for each module and a software program that integrates the data from the two sub-systems. The system was developed to operate on one computer, store the data in a common location, and simplify the process of extracting module specific data for a given event when plastic accumulates on the module feeder dispersing cylinders. The data provided by the system can be useful to manufacturers in comparing performance among module wrap products as well as to gin managers in training gin employees on module handling procedures to mitigate plastic contamination and improve worker safety.

The removal of plastic contamination from cotton lint is an issue of top priority to the U.S. cotton industry. One of the main sources of plastic contamination showing up in marketable cotton bales is plastic used to wrap cotton modules produced by John Deere round module harvesters. Despite diligent efforts by cotton ginning personnel to remove all plastic encountered during module unwrapping, plastic still finds a way into the cotton gin’s processing system. To help mitigate plastic contamination at the gin, a machine-vision detection and removal system was developed that utilizes low-cost color cameras to see plastic coming down the gin-stand feeder apron, which upon detection, blows plastic out of the cotton stream to prevent contamination. This paper presents the software design of this inspection and removal system. The system was tested throughout the entire 2019 cotton ginning season at two commercial cotton gins and at one gin in the 2018 ginning season. The focus of this report is to describe the software design and discuss relevant issues that influenced the design of the software.

Automation continues to play a greater role in agricultural production with commercial systems now available for machine vision identification of weeds and other pests, autonomous weed control, and robotic harvesters for fruits and vegetables. The growing availability of autonomous machines in agriculture indicates that there are opportunities to increase automation in cotton production. This article considers how current and future advances in automation has, could, or will impact cotton production practices. The results are organized to follow the cotton production process from land preparation to planting to within season management through harvesting and ginning. For each step, current and potential opportunities to automate processes are discussed. Specific examples include advances in automated weed control and progress made in the use of robotic systems for cotton harvesting.

This note describes the updated design and operation of an inspection system that provides ginners an instantaneous view of the dispersing cylinders in a cotton gin module feeder. Images are provided by network cameras installed in the back wall of a module feeder using a new adjustable housing design that allows for easier installation into various module feeder designs. We observed that when these systems are installed and operated, accumulation of plastic and other contaminants on dispersing cylinders is detected and removed more quickly than when the cylinders are manually checked between work shifts or during other pauses in gin operation. Gin crews are more responsive to plastic accumulation on the dispersing cylinders because they can see when it occurs and quickly remove the contaminants, thereby reducing the risk of plastic contamination in lint bales.

The removal of plastic contamination in cotton lint is an issue of top priority for the U.S. cotton industry. One of the main sources of plastic contamination appearing in marketable cotton bales is plastic used to wrap cotton modules on cotton harvesters. To help mitigate plastic contamination at the gin, automatic inspection systems are needed to detect and control removal systems. Due to significant cost constraints in the U.S. cotton ginning industry, the use of low-cost color cameras for detection of plastic contamination has been successfully adopted. However, some plastics of similar color to background are difficult to detect when utilizing traditional machine learning algorithms. Hence, current detection/removal system designs are not able to remove all plastics and there is still a need for better detection methods. Recent advances in deep learning convolutional neural networks (CNNs) show promise for enabling the use of low-cost color cameras for detection of objects of interest when placed against a background of similar color. They do this by mimicking the human visual detection system, focusing on differences in texture rather than color as the primary detection paradigm. The key to leveraging the CNNs is the development of extensive image datasets required for training. One of the impediments to this methodology is the need for large image datasets where each image must be annotated with bounding boxes that surround each object of interest. As this requirement is labor-intensive, there is significant value in these image datasets. This report details the included image dataset as well as the system design used to collect the images. For acquisition of the image dataset, a prototype detection system was developed and deployed into a commercial cotton gin where images were collected for the duration of the 2018–2019 ginning season. A discussion of the observational impact that the system had on reduction of plastic contamination at the commercial gin, utilizing traditional color-based machine learning algorithms, is also included.

Automation provides key benefits to production plants: increased speed of production, improved quality control, enhanced worker safety, and reduced production costs. Numerous types of systems use automated control throughout the world; in cotton gins, there are a few main systems that rely on some form of control: material flow, fire suppression, dryer temperature, press operation, and moisture restoration systems. This chapter provides an overview of control systems in general along with key examples of control systems in use in U.S. cotton gins.

Proper measurement of moisture content (MC) during the ginning process is crucial for proper management of a cotton gin. It is important to avoid producing wet cotton lint for the benefit of textile mills and because wet cotton is damaged in storage and degrades the value of cotton leading to a USDA-AMS classing color-grade that is no longer reflective of the actual color of cotton, which in turn is damaging to U.S. cotton commodity markets. Cotton stored at too high MC is unacceptable for marketing and is ineligible for placement into the Commodity Credit Corporation Marketing Assistance Loan Program. Additional problems occur with improper cotton moisture when ginning at excessively low MC, which results in cotton lint of lower quality with shorter fiber length and lower fiber length uniformity. Thus, use of moisture sensors are critical to ensure cotton gins produce bales at a MC that is safe for long term storage and transport. To assess cotton moisture, several meters are available from different manufacturers for the measurement of seed cotton and cotton lint MC. Some of these meters are portable and can be used with seed cotton or lint, whereas others are permanently installed. Some meters are suitable for automated moisture control in the gin.

Thermal management in printed circuit boards is becoming increasingly more important as the use of LEDs is now widespread across all industries. Due to availability of the preferred electronic LED current drivers and system constraints for a machine-vision application, the design dictated the need for a double-sided metal core printed circuit board (MCPCB). However, design information for this relatively new MCPCB offering is sparse to non-existent. To fill-in this missing information in the literature, experiments were conducted where LEDs were arranged on a double-sided metal core printed circuit board (MCPCB), and their impact on the board temperature distribution was tested in a static fan-less configuration where the first condition was at room temperature, 23 °C, and the second configuration was for a heated environment, 40 °C. Two MCPCB orientations were tested (vertical and horizontal). Additionally, several LED arrangements on the MCPCB were configured, and temperatures were measured using a thermocouple as well as with a deep-infrared thermal imaging camera. Maximum temperatures were found to be 65.3 °C for the room temperature tests and 96.4 °C for the heated tests with high temperatures found in near proximity to the heat sources (LEDs), indicating less than ideal heat-conduction/dissipation by the MCPCB. The results indicate that the double-sided MCPCB topology is not efficient for high thermally loaded systems, especially when the target is a fan-less system. The results of testing indicate that for fan-less systems requiring high-performance heat-transfer, these new MCPCB are not a suitable design alternative, and instead, designers should stick with the more traditional single-sided metal-back PCB.

Several yield monitors are available for use on cotton harvesters, but none are able to maintain yield measurement accuracy across cultivars and field conditions that vary spatially and/or temporally. Thus, the utility of yield monitors as tools for on-farm research is limited unless steps are taken to calibrate the systems as cultivars and conditions change. This technical note details the electronic system design for a harvester-based yield monitor calibration system for basket-type cotton strippers. The system was based upon the use of pressure sensors to measure the weight of the basket by monitoring the static pressure in the hydraulic lift cylinder circuit. To ensure accurate weighing, the system automatically lifted the basket to a target lift height, allowed the basket time to settle, then weighed the contents of the basket. The software running the system was split into two parts that were run on an embedded low-level micro-controller and a mobile computer located in the harvester cab. The system was field tested under commercial conditions and found to measure basket load weights within 2.5% of the reference scale. As such, the system was proven to be capable of providing an on-board auto-correction to a yield monitor for use in multi-variety field trials.

Several yield monitors are available for use on cotton harvesters, but none are able to maintain yield measurement accuracy across cultivars and field conditions that vary spatially and/or temporally. Thus, the utility of yield monitors as tools for on-farm research is limited unless steps are taken to calibrate the systems as cultivars and conditions change. This technical note details the man-machine-interface software system design portion of a harvester-based yield monitor calibration system for basket-type cotton strippers. The system was based upon the use of pressure sensors to measure the weight of the basket by monitoring the static pressure in the hydraulic lift cylinder circuit. To ensure accurate weighing, the system automatically lifted the basket to a target lift height, allowed basket time to settle, then weighed the contents of the basket. The software running the system was split into two parts that were run on an embedded low-level micro-controller, and a mobile computer located in the harvester cab. The system was field tested under commercial conditions and found to measure basket load weights within 2.5% of the reference scale. As such, the system was proven to be capable of providing an on-board auto-correction to a yield monitor for use in multi-variety field trials.

Several yield monitors are available for use on cotton harvesters, but none are able to maintain yield measurement accuracy across cultivars and field conditions that vary spatially and/or temporally. Thus, the utility of yield monitors as tools for on-farm research is limited unless steps are taken to calibrate the systems as cultivars and conditions change. This technical note details the embedded micro-controller software system design portion of a harvester-based yield monitor calibration system for basket-type cotton strippers. The system was based upon the use of pressure sensors to measure the weight of the basket by monitoring the static pressure in the hydraulic lift cylinder circuit. To ensure accurate weighing, the system automatically lifted the basket to a target lift height, allowed the basket time to settle, and then weighed the contents of the basket. The software running the system was split into two parts, which were run on an embedded low-level micro-controller and a mobile computer located in the harvester cab. The system was field tested under commercial conditions and found to measure basket load weights within 2.5% of the reference scale. As such, the system was proven to be capable of providing an on-board auto-correction to a yield monitor for use in multi-variety field trials.

The impact of the harvesting method, as well as the ginning method (saw or high-speed roller ginning), on textile quality was studied over three years of cotton production in the Southern High Plains. The Southern High Plains region is the largest cotton production area of the USA. The Southern High Plains and the Texas Gulf Coast are the only areas of the USA where brush-roll stripper harvesting is common, alongside traditional spindle picker machine harvesting. Different harvesting methods lead to differences in micronaire, maturity, length distribution, color and non-lint content within the bale. Ginning differences were primarily found to be length and length distribution related. Lint was processed into rotor-spun, carded ring-spun and combed ring-spun medium count yarns to determine the impacts of harvesting and ginning methods on textile product quality. Rotor spinning produced comparable quality yarns regardless of harvest or ginning method, while carded ring-spun yarns showed statistical differences in quality, with spindle-picked cottons having greater uniformity and higher tenacity. Combing was able to eliminate any functional differences in quality due to the pre-mill handling of the cottons at the expense of increased noil levels for stripper-harvested cottons. There were no differences in ends-down during ring spinning, regardless of harvest and ginning method, although cottons produced with high-speed roller ginning were able to be spun at higher spindle speeds, which equates to higher production speeds.

The lint yield and fiber quality of cotton produced in the Southern High Plains of the USA have improved over the last decade, renewing interest in finding harvest and ginning practices that better preserve fiber quality. Previous research showed that picker harvesting and roller ginning may better preserve fiber quality, but conventional roller ginning was too slow to be adopted as the primary ginning system used for Upland cotton. Advancements in roller ginning technology have increased the ginning rate per unit width of rotary-knife roller gins to approximately equal that of saw gins. Research has shown that improvements in nep content and fiber length characteristics afforded by conventional roller ginning compared to saw ginning are maintained by the new high-speed roller gins (HSRGs). The objective of this work was to compare the fiber quality, seed quality, ginning rate, and lint turnout of Upland cotton produced in the Southern High Plains, harvested using a picker or a stripper, and ginned using saw or HSRG systems. The findings of this work indicate that the HSRG substantially improved the length characteristics of the Upland cultivars tested regardless of harvest method. Turnout was higher for the HSRG and for picker harvested cotton. Nep content was reduced for picker harvested cotton and the HSRG. The fiber length distribution and nep content improvements from the HSRG system make this fiber more attractive to ring spinning mills that produce high-count yarns for high-value products.

Background Producing rainfed cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) with high fiber quality has been challenging in the Texas High Plains because of extended periods of insufficient rainfall during sensitive boll developmental stages. Genetic variation created by Ethyl MethaneSulfonate (EMS) mutagen has successfully improved fiber quality of cotton. However, little is known about the effect of water deficit environments on fiber quality. Three EMS treated populations were advanced from the first to the fourth generation (M1 to M4) as bulk harvested populations. In 2014, single-plant divergent selection was applied based on perceived morphological and agronomic differences seen during and at the end of the season. Results Analyses from these selections in 2014–2016 showed significant (P

Successful data acquisition on mobile platforms, such as tractors, requires the provision of protection for the sensitive electronics, as these platforms are inherently rife with electrical transients that have sufficient energy to cause damage to unprotected instrumentation. Unfortunately, though there are many protection options for industrial applications (i.e., those installed at 120VAC), off-the-shelf products for mobile protection are extremely limited and, after a survey, were determined to provide insufficient protection. The objective of this study was to identify the requirements for the protection of mobile platform instrumentation and equipment, and/or identify circuits that can perform this function. A literature review of electrical transients typical to automotive electronics was performed and circuit simulations were performed using open source software. Off-the-shelf circuit components were tested, via simulation, in various configurations until a design emerged that provided adequate protection from all surge classes. To ensure protection of valuable data, one of the design criteria was to ensure the circuit would continue to supply power to the personal computer (PC), and electronics, even during a load-dump event. The circuit was also designed to provide protection from electrical fast transients and electrostatic discharges. The reported circuit is capable of protecting a computer and data acquisition electronics installed on 12 VDC mobile equipment. This simple, inexpensive design meets Automotive Electronics Council requirements and uses readily available components without a specially fabricated circuit board.

Cotton post-harvest processing research requires moisture content determination for seed cotton, cottonseed, and lint. Methods for determining moisture content have changed and are no longer consistent between laboratories. This research compared standard procedures documented in 1972 and those currently practiced for finding moisture content by oven drying, and quantified the variability. Seed cotton from four modern cultivars (ranging from 9.4% to 36.8% foreign matter), lint, and cottonseed were brought from dry conditions, blended, and then stored for more than 30 days in a controlled environment (21°C, 65% RH) to reach uniform moisture content. Additionally, 150 seed cotton samples were placed in plastic zipper bags and sent by air freight to a distant location and back or stored on-site. Drying baskets (652 cm3) were loaded, in random order, with 25, 35, 50, 71, and 100 g seed cotton or 10, 14, 20, 28, and 40 g lint. Cottonseed was placed in 45 cm3 aluminum cups (10 g) or 800 cm3 aluminum baskets (50 g). Wet weights were determined in the controlled environment. After drying, replicated sets of seed cotton, lint, and cottonseed samples were weighed inside a drying oven and then outside the oven while still hot. Some samples were dried for twice the recommended duration. Sample location in the ovens was tracked. Weighing hot seed cotton samples outside the oven after drying increased apparent moisture content by approximately 0.5% due to air buoyancy; weighing lint samples outside the oven increased apparent moisture content by 1%. Smaller differences in apparent seed cotton moisture content were found when halving or doubling the amount of material in drying baskets or doubling the drying duration. Foreign matter had a minor influence on apparent moisture content. Storage for three days and shipping by air freight in plastic zipper bags did not measurably change the apparent moisture content of seed cotton. Sample location within the drying oven made no difference. Current practices are satisfactory if dry weight location is taken into consideration. Measurement uncertainty has decreased compared to 50 years ago, but the recommended minimum number of samples per treatment was increased slightly for greater statistical power. Keywords: Cotton lint, Cottonseed, Moisture content, Oven drying, Seed cotton.

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The Texas High Plains often has extended periods between rainfall events, which can lead to a reduction in the yield and fiber quality of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). It is known that cultivated cotton suffers from low levels of genetic diversity due to the over-use in breeding of similar gene pools, which may hinder breeding for drought tolerance. In this study, for the first time the novel variability or genetic diversity of morphological and agronomic traits possibly created by the chemical mutagen ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) was evaluated to improve drought tolerance in cotton by traits’ response to different irrigation regimes. EMS is a chemical mutagen that has been shown to cause point mutations in the DNA of many model plants and crop species. Three EMS treated lines were advanced from the M1 to M4 generation as bulk-harvested populations. A diverse selection scheme was applied to capture most of the genetic trait-variability or diversity and superior lines in these populations. In 2014–2016 the diversity of these populations was evaluated based on four agronomic and thirteen morphological traits to determine differences in response to multiple irrigation rates. Analyses of these traits showed statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences between and within populations when compared to the original non-treated EMS source, with most of the variability being observed in the high irrigation rate. However, none of the EMS treated populations had significantly (p ≤ 0.05) better lint yield than the commercial cultivar (control) in 2016. EMS yield performance was possibly constrained by the applied diverse selection scheme of this study. Traits such as total number of bolls, bolls retained at node 7 and below, and those retained between nodes 8 and 12, and bolls retained at node of first fruiting branch may be predictors to improve cotton production (yield) in water limiting environments.

Cotton crop residual biomass remaining in the field after mechanical seed cotton harvest is not typically harvested and utilized off-site thereby generating additional revenue for producers. Recently, interest has increased in utilizing biomass materials as feedstock for the production of fuel and composite materials. This work was undertaken to investigate the quantity and characteristics of residual biomass remaining in the field for cotton produced in the Southern High Plains of the US. Three growing locations were studied and varied with regard to irrigation use and application system, and harvest method. In order to differentiate the amount of biomass available before and after seed cotton harvest as well as the physical location of the material, biomass yield was measured for five collection groups: (1) pre-harvest stalk, (2) pre-harvest ground, (3) post-harvest stalk, (4) post-harvest ground, and (5) bur trial (for the two stripper harvested locations only). Within each collection group, the biomass was separated into four components: seed cotton, stick, bur, and other vegetative material (OVM). Total biomass produced at the Lubbock (sub-surface drip irrigated, machine stripped), Floyd (non-irrigated, machine stripped), and Dawson (center pivot irrigated, machine picked) locations were 8643, 3227, and 6456 kg DM/ha, respectively. After mechanical seed cotton harvest, 3537 (41%), 1578 (49%), and 4210 (65%) kg DM/ha remained in the fields at the Lubbock, Floyd, and Dawson locations, respectively. Analytical analysis of the individual biomass components indicated that stick and bur have properties more favorable to application as feedstock for biofuel or bio-based composite production whereas OVM is better used as a soil amendment or animal feed ingredient. Cotton producers must consider costs associated with harvest, storage, and transportation of biomass materials but also costs associated with replacement fertilizer and reduced soil tilth prior to making the decision to remove residual cotton crop biomass for off-site use.

Demand for wood products continues to grow at levels that challenge the available resources. Alternative materials are sought to sustainably supplement the wood fiber industry. Experiments were conducted on composite boards made from agricultural residues. The boards were subjected to thermal treatments to improve mechanical properties. Board construction was accomplished by pressing fibers in a 10% resin matrix with 1.5% wax at 166 °C and 3.45 MPa. Composite boards were produced using cotton carpel, cotton stalks, kenaf, flax, and southern yellow pine, and cotton carpel blended 50/50% with kenaf, cotton stalks, flax and southern yellow pine. In one thermal treatment, fiber was heated to 185 °C for 30 min before the boards were made. In the other thermal treatment, finished boards were heated to 185 °C for 30 min. Four specimens from each board were subjected to water absorption, thickness swelling, internal bond, and stress testing modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity in accordance with methods described in the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D 1037-06a. Thermal-treating the fibers post-fabrication reduced water absorption in all boards compared to untreated specimens. Thermal-treating had mixed effects on MOE, MOR, and internal bond with some fiber composites having improved values while others had lower values. Kenaf had significantly higher water absorption and swell properties compared to the other materials. Southern yellow pine and flax had equivalent water resistance. Composite blends with cotton carpel exhibited equal or improved mechanical properties compared to non-blended treatments.

This research examines the use of a novel new renewable resource in acoustic absorption applications that requires no glues or other artificial binders. Hence the proposed material provides a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to construction industry for acoustic absorption panels. The material being tested is an all-natural biopolymer that consists entirely of pure fungal mycelium that is cultured at elevated temperatures from 30 to 35 Cent. in an elevated carbon-dioxide rich environment, from three to seven percent, which in combination suppresses the fruiting bodies. This new biopolymer provides an alternative to closed cell foams and synthetic honeycombs that are suitable for a wide range of applications from fire-resistant bio-leather, textile support foams used in shoes and clothing, scaffolding for medical bio-organs and vegetarian meat. This study examines the acoustical absorption properties of this material over the frequency range from 350 Hz to 4 kHz. The results of the study indicate this new class of a pure mycelium foam provides a sustainable promising bio-based all-natural fiber alternative for acoustic shielding alternative to the traditional acoustic absorbers that are most commonly constructed with petroleum based glues and synthetic fibers.

Cotton production practices have changed in the Southern High Plains of the United States over the last decade resulting in increased yields and improved fiber quality. Moreover, the majority of U.S. cotton now competes in a global fiber market that demands higher quality fiber for ring spun yarn than the former domestic open-end market. The brush-roll stripper harvester is the predominate machine used to harvest the Southern High Plains cotton crop, but interest in spindle pickers has increased recently in efforts to better preserve fiber quality, enhance profitability, and maintain the market share of U.S. cotton in the global fiber market. This work was conducted to compare yields, fiber quality, and agronomic parameters between picker and stripper-based harvest systems under commercial production and ginning conditions. Large-scale harvest system comparison tests were conducted at seven sub-surface drip irrigated sites across the Texas High Plains during the 2008-2010 crop years using brush-roll strippers with field cleaners and spindle pickers. Four cotton modules harvested from each site under each harvest method were ginned by a commercial gin. Compared to picker-harvested cotton, stripper-harvested cotton had 1096 kg ha -1 higher seed cotton yield which increased ginning charges by $72.40 ha -1 . Seed and lint yields were 217 and 108 kg ha -1 higher, respectively, for stripper-harvested cotton resulting in $88.78 ha -1 higher total production revenue. Notwithstanding higher lint yield for the stripper system, custom harvesting was $51.38 ha -1 more expensive for the picker system due to the custom harvesting rates used (picking: $0.22 per lint kg; stripping: $0.18 per lint kg). Except for strength and reflectance that showed no difference by harvest method, all High Volume Instrument (HVI) fiber quality parameters were improved for picker-harvested cotton. Due to improved HVI fiber quality and a substantial decrease in the number of bark contaminated bales, lint value was higher for picker-harvested cotton. However, increased lint value was offset by decreased yield such that net revenue was $66.76 ha -1 higher for stripper-harvested cotton across all sites.

Accurate moisture sensing is an important need for many research programs as well as in control of industrial processes. This paper describes the development of a high accuracy frequency domain sensing probe for use in obtaining dielectric measurements of materials suitable for work ranging from 300 MHz to 1 GHz. The probe was developed to accommodate a wide range of permittivity’s ranging from er = 2.5 to elevated permittivity’s as high as er = 40. The design provides a well-matched interface between the soil and the interconnecting cables. A key advantage of the frequency domain approach is that a change of salt concentration has a significantly reduced effect on e′, versus the traditional time-domain reflectometry, TDR, measured apparent permittivity, Ka.

Large quantities of cotton gin byproducts (CGB), also known as cotton gin trash or cotton gin waste, are being produced across the cotton belt of the United States annually. Similarly, guayule wastes after rubber latex production is expected to increase as this industry begins to expand. Use of these waste materials in value-added products can help the economics of the crops and aid in alleviating waste management issues and environmental problems. Conventional wood preservatives used to protect wood from insect and microbial damage are of concern to human health and the environment. Guayule bagasse (GB) has been shown to have termite control properties, and a combination of cotton gin and guayule wastes could also have such valuable properties. An initial study evaluating the physical and mechanical properties of boards produced from these two biomasses was published in 2009, this study is a continuation focusing on the termite resistance of boards produced. Thus, the objective of this research was to determine the termite resistance property of experimental composition boards made from CGB and GB. Composition boards were made from five different ratios of CGB to GB: 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100 (C100, C75–G25, C50–G50, C25–G75, and G100, respectively). Additionally, three-layered boards (3-layer) consisting of 25% GB (upper layer), 50% CGB (middle layer), and 25% GB (bottom layer) were made. For comparison, a commercial southern pine lumber board (SPB), a commercial oriented strandboard (OSB), and a commercial preservative treated medium density fiberboard (MDF) were included in the testing. This testing was an extension of a previous study where the mechanical properties of the CGB and GB composition boards were compared to select commercial standards. Five specimens were cut from each of the nine different board treatments and tested using Eastern subterranean termites. Weight loss, termite survival days, and visual grade of each specimen were determined according to testing standards. Results confirmed good termite control quality for boards made from GB alone. Boards containing CGB to GB ratios of 75–25 and 50–50 obtained similar termite resistance as the commercial OSB based on the total weight loss and one-week termite mortality rate. Visual grading of tested specimens revealed all six CGB and GB composition boards and the treated MDF showed better rating than the commercial OSB and pine lumber. No differences were noted among the total termite surviving days for the six CGB and GB composition boards. Overall, the biobased CGB and GB boards showed promise with the boards containing GB exhibiting improved termite resistance properties than SPB and OSB.

Southern High Plains cotton has improved over the last ten years with regard to yield and fiber length and strength. In light of increased adoption of picker harvesting to preserve fiber quality and improve harvest productivity, ginning practices are needed which preserve fiber quality and maximize return to the producer. The objective of this work was to investigate the influence of harvest method, number of seed-cotton extractor cleaners (e.g. stick machines), and seed-cotton cleaning rate on foreign matter content, lint value, and fiber and yarn quality of cotton produced in the Southern High Plains. Compared to using only one stick machine, the use of two stick machines in the seed-cotton cleaning system removed more foreign material from both picker- and stripper-harvested cotton, but more foreign material was removed by the stick machines from stripper-harvested cotton because it had higher initial foreign matter content. Seed-cotton cleaning rate had no influence on stick machine cleaning performance for picked cotton but higher cleaning rates reduced stick machine cleaning performance for stripper-harvested cotton. Picker-harvested cotton exhibited improved HVI and AFIS fiber quality and higher bale values compared to stripper-harvested cotton. The use of two stick machines improved fiber color properties and reduced lint foreign matter content. Seed-cotton cleaning rate had a minimal effect on fiber quality and bale value was not influenced by the number of stick machines or seed-cotton cleaning rate. Total lint value, on a production area basis, was higher for stripper-harvested cotton after both lint cleaners compared to picker-harvested cotton due to yield differences. Yarn imperfections were reduced for ring spun yarn produced from picker-harvested cotton processed through one stick machine at the high cleaning rate. The findings of this work support a recommendation for using one stick machine in seed-cotton cleaning systems processing picker-harvested cotton and two stick machines in systems processing stripper-harvested cotton.

There is a need for low-cost, high-accuracy measurement of water content in various materials. This study assesses the performance of a new microwave swept frequency domain instrument (SFI) that has promise to provide a low-cost, high-accuracy alternative to the traditional and more expensive time domain reflectometry (TDR). The technique obtains permittivity measurements of soils in the frequency domain utilizing a through transmission configuration, transmissometry, which provides a frequency domain transmissometry measurement (FDT). The measurement is comparable to time domain transmissometry (TDT) with the added advantage of also being able to separately quantify the real and imaginary portions of the complex permittivity so that the measured bulk permittivity is more accurate that the measurement TDR provides where the apparent permittivity is impacted by the signal loss, which can be significant in heavier soils. The experimental SFI was compared with a high-end 12 GHz TDR/TDT system across a range of soils at varying soil water contents and densities. As propagation delay is the fundamental measurement of interest to the well-established TDR or TDT technique; the first set of tests utilized precision propagation delay lines to test the accuracy of the SFI instrument's ability to resolve propagation delays across the expected range of delays that a soil probe would present when subjected to the expected range of soil types and soil moisture typical to an agronomic cropping system. The results of the precision-delay line testing suggests the instrument is capable of predicting propagation delays with a RMSE of +/-105 ps across the range of delays ranging from 0 to 12,000 ps with a coefficient of determination of r(2) = 0.998. The second phase of tests noted the rich history of TDR for prediction of soil moisture and leveraged this history by utilizing TDT measured with a high-end Hewlett Packard TDR/TDT instrument to directly benchmark the SFI instrument over a range of soil types, at varying levels of moisture. This testing protocol was developed to provide the best possible comparison between SFI to TDT than would otherwise be possible by using soil moisture as the bench mark, due to variations in soil density between soil water content levels which are known to impact the calibration between TDR's estimate of soil water content from the measured propagation delay which is converted to an apparent permittivity measurement. This experimental decision, to compare propagation delay of TDT to FDT, effectively removes the errors due to variations in packing density from the evaluation and provides a direct comparison between the SFI instrument and the time domain technique of TDT. The tests utilized three soils (a sand, an Acuff loam and an Olton clay-loam) that were packed to varying bulk densities and prepared to provide a range of water contents and electrical conductivities by which to compare the performance of the SFI technology to TDT measurements of propagation delay. For each sample tested, the SFI instrument and the TDT both performed the measurements on the exact same probe, thereby both instruments were measuring the exact same soil/soil-probe response to ensure the most accurate means to compare the SFI instrument to a high-end TDT instrument. Test results provided an estimated instrumental accuracy for the SFI of +/-0.98% of full scale, RMSE basis, for the precision delay lines and +/-1.32% when the SFI was evaluated on loam and clay loam soils, in comparison to TDT as the bench-mark. Results from both experiments provide evidence that the low-cost SFI approach is a viable alternative to conventional TDR/TDT for high accuracy applications.