Cotton Glossary

BALE
A basic unit of lint after the cotton is ginned. The weight of a bale varies from country to country. By convention, a ‘statistical’ bale weighs 480 lbs.

BOLL
The fruit of a cotton plant in which cotton is formed.

BT COTTON
A genetically engineered cotton type that carries the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene that produces protein crystals toxic to some insect pests like bollworms.

COTTON
Cultivated cotton is a perennial shrub which belongs to the genus Gossypium. There are two major species in current production – G. hirsutum, commonly known as upland cotton, and G. barbadense or pima cotton. Some less commonly grown species are G. herbaceum and G. arboreum

G. ARBOREUM, G. HERBACEUM
Asiatic short-staple coarse cotton, usually having high Micronaire values.

FIBER
The basic entity which is twisted into yarns, and then used in the production of fabric.

GINNING
Ginning is the process that separates leaf matter, cotton trash, and seeds from cotton fiber which is then made into a bale

MICRONAIRE
A measure of fiber strength

PLANT BREEDING
Plant Breeding has been defined as the art and science of improving the heredity of plants for the benefit of mankind.

POPULATION
A group of individual plants having some characteristics in common, either location, family ancestry, or intended use.

SPAN LENGTH
The extent exceeded by a stated proportion of cotton fibers, eg, 2.5% span length is the length exceeded by only 2.5% of fibers by number.

TOLERANCE
The ability of plants to endure a specified pest, pathogen, environmental pressure or chemical stress. A tolerant variety will sustain less damage than a susceptible variety when grown under the same conditions.

VIABILITY
A population’s ability to live, grow and develop. It is affected by physical habitat factors (climate, geology, topography, and aquatic features) and by biotic habitat factors (plant and animal populations and communities).

VIGOR
Strong, vibrant germination and growth is defined as plant vigor.