Monheim, Germany
May 13, 2009
Source:
Bayer CropScience
Editorial Service - Issue 7
In close contact with nature
 We
feel it next to our skin almost every day, but this is not the
only reason why natural fibers like cotton have such great
economic significance. It has a vast range of uses, from fibers
for textiles and packaging through to oil and as an ingredient
in compound materials. And the plant itself is being improved
all the time, as biotechnology helps it cope better with the
effects of climate change and enhances the quality of the
fibers.
"I pull on my jeans and I feel alright ..." as David Dundas sang
in his hit “Jeans On”. He composed this catchy jingle to
advertise Brutus Jeans in the USA in the late seventies. But
jeans and T-shirts don't just represent a particular attitude to
life: the material from which they are made – cotton – also sits
well on the skin. Unlike wool, cotton doesn't scratch or make
your skin feel itchy. Its fibers are soft and are pleasant to
touch. This natural substance breathes and is hygienic, as many
items made of cotton can be boil-washed. Natural fibers are
therefore a boon to people suffering from allergies. One more
characteristic of cotton makes it lovely to wear next to the
skin: it can absorb up to 20 per cent of its own weight in water
vapour before it starts to feel damp. Even when it has taken up
65 per cent of its own weight in water it is still not wringing
wet.
The international year of natural fibers
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the FAO, decided to
make 2009 the International Year of Natural Fibres because
cotton is more than "just" a raw material used in textiles. It
is also the way in which millions of people earn their living.
One of the principles behind this International Year is to raise
awareness of the particular properties and benefits of natural
fibers. The FAO also hopes that it will lead to a lasting
improvement in the economic and environmental aspects of cotton
cultivation throughout the world.
The FAO's statistics show that around 30 million tonnes of
natural fibers are produced all over the world. Most of this –
26 million tonnes - is cotton. Wool comes in second place and
jute in third. Ancient cultures regarded cotton as "white gold"
because it was so valuable. The description is particularly apt
nowadays as the range of uses has expanded so much. It is true
that we still use cotton for textiles, but only 35 per cent of
the global harvest ends up in sweaters, underwear or smart
sports jackets.
The seed produced by the plant together with the husk and short
fibers account for the other 65 per cent of the usable cotton
by-products and have a wide range of applications. The seeds are
crushed to produce oil which is used in food and for industrial
applications. The remaining residue is a high-quality livestock
feed. The short fibers which are not suitable for making
textiles are used in various ways, including cotton wool for
medical applications. Natural fibers are also in demand in the
paper and packaging industries. And it even finds its way into
the car industry, where this versatile material is used to
strengthen plastics in environmentally-friendly components for
high-end interiors.
As with any natural product, the quality of cotton depends on
many factors: the length, thickness and strength of the fibers
vary according to the variety grown and the weather conditions.
Length is the most important quality criterion: the longer,
finer and stronger the cotton fibers are, the easier it is to
transform them into yarn and fabric. They have to stand up to
their main rivals – artificial fibers – in this respect. The
length, colour, shape, thickness and quality of machine-made
fibers never vary. "Nowadays it is no longer enough just to
boost the productivity of plants. It is at least as important to
develop ways of improving particular aspects of the quality of
cotton fibers", comments Linda Trolinder, Cotton Research and
Development Manager at Bayer CropScience's site in the Belgian
town of Ghent.
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Research & Development:
Seed for fine fibers
Scientists throughout the world are working to develop
cotton plants that produce high-quality fibers and are at
the same time ideally suited to their location. This is the
aim of the biotechnology researchers working on cotton
fibers for Bayer CropScience. As Tony Arioli, a specialist
in fiber biology for Bayer CropScience, explains: "Until a
few years ago nobody really knew how cotton fibers are
created, and why one plant produces good and another plant
poor fibers. But now the secret is out: biochemical analysis
and genetic engineering has helped biotechnologists uncover
some of the molecular mechanisms behind fiber development.
Research targets include improving the inherent
characteristics of fiber – length, strength, fineness, etc.
– to improve the spinning or manufacturing characteristics
of the fiber itself. Another focus area is looking at
entirely new fiber characteristics that might impart
desirable processing or consumer qualities such as
dyeability, wrinkle resistance or flame retardance.
Breeding and protection
Modern methods and technologies are helping plant breeders
make better use of the global cotton gene pool and create
new varieties specially adapted to local requirements. They
also want to make cotton better able to cope with
environmental stress factors such as drought in the future.
One means of approaching this goal is to look again at the
earliest domesticated forms of cotton.
Bayer CropScience therefore has now started a pre-breeding
program for cotton in collaboration with Nature Source
Genetics. During the course of this 5 year collaboration,
the two parties will work together to identify genes of
interest found in primitive cottons and develop efficient
strategies for incorporating them into Bayer’s elite
breeding program. The initial focus of the program will be
on yield and yield stability, the two characteristics most
important to cotton growers.
Another key breeding partner for Bayer CropScience is the
Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation
(CSIRO) based in the Australian capital, Canberra. Cotton
Seed International Proprietary Limited, an Australian
corporation, which has exclusive rights, through its parent
company Cotton Seed Distributors Proprietary Limited, has
formed a joint venture company with Bayer CropScience in
order to further adapt the Australian cotton varieties to
the needs of the international markets. This cooperation
resulted in the development of FiberMax®, a unique and very
successful line of cotton varieties known for producing
high-quality fibers while also generating high yields. The
product achieved a market share of 32.2 per cent by 2008.
This top-grade cotton variety has been particularly popular
in Texas, as the proportion of cotton land given over to
FiberMax® varieties increased from just over 45 per cent in
2004 to 67.6 per cent in 2008. The Certified FiberMax®
Cotton program enables firms that process the cotton not
only to buy the high-grade fibers they want but also to
trace the variety back to the seed in the field. Then they
can be sure that they have been sold genuine FiberMax® lint.
But Bayer CropScience does not focus solely on improving
fiber yield and quality in its research activities: it
strives to improve the plants' tolerance to herbicides and
resistance to insects as well. The potential benefits of
this work are enormous: a more targeted use of crop
protection products, benefiting both the environment and the
farmer's wallet. But more comprehensive crop protection
starts much earlier. Special seed dressings protect cotton
against insect damage for up to 45 days after the seedlings
have emerged. Seed treatment also protects plants from
infections caused by fungi and bacteria.
Economic aspects
Cotton - a commodity in
great demand
The size of the global cotton trade is enormous: It is
cultivated in around 130 countries. Farmers all around the
world harvested 26 million tonnes of cotton during the
2007/2008 season. The International Cotton Advisory
Committee (ICAC) estimates that around 100 million farms
depend on natural fibers. Hafez Ghanem, FAO Assistant
General Director for Social and Economic Development,
commented at the start of the International Year of Natural
Fibres that "fibers account for up to 50 per cent of exports
from some developing countries. For the farmers and farms in
these countries, a secure food supply depends on income from
natural fibers."
China is the world's largest cotton producer, with around 30
per cent of production, followed by the USA (24 per cent)
and India (21 per cent). These countries alone account for
three-quarters of the world's cotton harvest. The only real
rivals to cotton on the world's fiber market have been
artificial fibers, which have from time to time reduced
cotton's market share.
The world's total cotton acreage stands at 34 million
hectares, with the crop occupying 2.5 per cent of arable
land. Although the area of land given over to cotton
cultivation has remained more or less the same in the past
forty years, yields have risen dramatically over the same
period. In 1965, the figure stood at 372 kilograms per
hectare, but by 2006 this had more than doubled to reach 765
kilograms per hectare. This rise was driven mainly by
advancements in cotton breeding and genetics, the
cultivation of genetically modified cotton, and efficient
crop management and improved irrigation systems. New,
high-performance varieties with built-in pest resistance
also reduced the yield loss due to insect damage in cotton
fields.
Chinese and U.S. cotton farmers have been particularly
efficient in managing their crop: China's cotton fields
yield around 1,000 kilograms per hectare, with the USA
coming in it at 960 kilograms. In contrast, the figure for
India is just 429 kilograms per hectare. However, the
sub-continent is home to the largest amount of land used to
produce "white gold" (9.1 million hectares).
But cotton plants do not simply produce fibers: the oil
content of the seeds for example is used for industrial
cooking, margarine, soap, candles and the cosmetics
industry. In the 2007/08 season cotton crops produced 46.1
million tonnes of oilseed, putting it in third place in the
oilseed production league table behind soy beans (220.8
million tonnes) and canola (48.4 million tonnes)
Sustainability:
Making more efficient
use of water
Growing high-yielding high-quality cotton requires
significant amounts of water. It takes about a cubic meter
of water to produce one kilogram of fibers. And large
amounts of water are also needed in the processing and
chemical treatment of the fibers. According to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) IHE Institute of Water Education, it takes around
11,000 litres of water to make a pair of jeans (from field
to when they are sold in a shop), while for a T-shirt the
same process takes just under 3,000 litres (source: "The
Water Footprint of Cotton Consumption"). That is why action
aimed at more efficient use of this water is essential:
examples include optimum water management and better land
cultivation techniques.
Research into the genetic potential of primitive cottons to
increase the water use efficiency of commercial cottons is a
critical activity. Working with wild cotton species and
early varieties of cotton is very challenging. Nevertheless
Bayer CropScience's researchers are optimistic that they
will discover stress-tolerant and drought-resistant
proprieties that will be useful to cultivated plants to
reduce the water needed for cotton cultivation. This is
doubly beneficial. Water is becoming scarcer and is becoming
increasingly expensive for the cotton producer. Increasing
the water use efficiency of cotton will make it more
sustainable ecologically and economically.
The International Cotton
Advisory Committee represents the cotton
industry at global level. This site offers
statistics on the global cotton market situation and
technical information, and acts as a platform for
joint ventures.
http://www.icac.org
The official website of the International Year of
Natural Fibers contains information about
events, "fiber stories" and background information.
http://www.naturalfibres2009.org
The "Cotton and Wool Outlook" produced by the
USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)
offers facts and figures about fibers in the United
States and around the world.
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/ers/CWS//2000s/2009/CWS-03-12-2009.pdf
Entering "cotton" in the search engine of the
Food and Agriculture Organisation brings a
wealth of statistics and market data, as well as
information about the crop's impact on food security
and poverty.
http://www.fao.org
www.proplanta.de
This German-language agriculture information center
contains a summary of information about major crops,
economic data and figures relating to cotton.
The Australia-based
Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
(CSIRO) is one of the world's leading scientific
institutions. Its website contains information about
research projects and articles on breeding methods,
fiber quality and irrigation issues.
http://www.csiro.au/science/Cotton.html
www.transgen.de
German-language website that contains numerous
information about biotechnology and food.
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Additional information on cotton |
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Origin + history
Machines spin success for the
textile industry
People have been spinning
and weaving cotton into cloth
for thousands of years. Cotton
seeds and bolls and fabric
dating back to around 5000 B.C.
have been discovered, for
example, in Mexico.
In North America, modern cotton
cultivation began in the 'old
cotton states' of Florida, North
and South Carolina, Louisiana
and Georgia in the seventeenth
century. But the world trade in
raw cotton remained tiny for
some time, primarily because it
had to be processed by hand,
which was labour-intensive. It
was not until the invention of
machinery in the mid-eighteenth
century that cotton started to
take off. The industrial process
involved the use of cotton gins
to separate the plant fibers
from the seeds and spinning
machines like the "spinning
Jenny" to turn the fibers into
yarn much faster than could be
done manually. Finally,
mechanical looms made cotton
into a product that could be
traded all over the world.
The shorter fibers were used to
make coarse, cheap yarn, cotton
wool, and, thanks to its high
cellulose content, paper and
rayon. The longer fibers, also
referred to as lint, were
pressed into balls and spun to
produce cotton yarn for the
textile industry.
Biology:
The birth of the hairy seeds
Despite its German name
(Baumwolle = tree wool), the
fluffy seed fibers do not grow
on trees. The plant is typically
found in the wild as a shrub.
The seed hairs of the four
Gossypium species domesticated
as a source of cotton have been
clothing us for thousands of
years.
Despite the fact that wild
species are found throughout the
world, modern cultivated cotton
is not suited to all conditions:
cotton seeds do best if they are
kept moist at sowing time, and
the plant needs plenty of heat
as it ripens. That is why
cultivation as a commercial crop
is restricted to tropical and
sub-tropical regions.
A plant will be ready for
harvesting between 150 and 225
days after the seed was sown.
Each boll has three to five
compartments, each of which
contains 25-30 pear-shaped seeds
to which are attached the
valuable fibers. At maturity the
bolls open, and the fibers dry
and “fluff” out making the bolls
look like giant balls of cotton
wool. Primitive forms of cotton
have seeds with 2,000 and 7,000
fibers, but modern varieties can
have up to 20,000 fibers per
seed. Each of these fibers
started life as a single cell. |
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