Page 30 - 21 Cotton SA February 2020

/ KWALITEITSBEHEER EN STANDAARDE

COTTON LINT

QUALITY BETWEEN

CULTIVARS

2018/19 season

by Gert Klindt and Calvin Knight, Cotton SA

Farmers are often faced with the difficult decision of what to plant in their fields, having to
choose between different crops and then sometimes choosing between different cultivars

available for that crop. It is essential to always consider as much information as possible
before planting. It helps to consider the best cultivar suited to the climate of the area, the
inputs available for land preparation, management of pests and diseases, and monitoring

of plant growth and harvesting. The availability of harvesting machinery, costs of transport
to a nearby gin, fibre quality that can be achieved, the tempo of processing seed cotton
by a gin, and timeous payments made to the producer, are important factors that enable
a farmer to produce cotton.

Considering all cotton cultivars available for Data presented cover the cultivars for KwaZulu-
planting in South Africa, the farmer has a few Natal and the Northern Cape, while data from
options. To assist with these choices, a breakdown Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and North West were
of the fibre quality for the 2018/2019 season combined for comparative purposes. Data pre-
is presented. These figures are based only on sented up to date were compared from a total
quality data of samples provided to the Cotton SA of 163 000 bales that have been graded so far
Quality laboratory and does not take into account (17/1/2020) for the 2018/19 production sea-
any other factors that can influence quality. son. Data were not compared between ginneries.

30 | Katoen SA \\ Cotton SA