Fiber Quality Characteristics of Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in Main Production Areas of Aegean Region

High-quality cotton fiber has an important role in the textile industry. The regional differences due to environmental factors, genotype and cultural management lead to variation in fiber characteristics. A two-year field experiment was conducted to reveal the intra-regional differences in the Aegean region. The samples from Great Meander, Little Meander, Bakırçay, Gediz and Söke basins were analyzed by High Volume Instrument (HVI) for fiber length (mm), fiber fineness (mic.), fiber strength (g tex-1), reflectance (Rd), yellowness (+b) and trash count (number per unit area) in 2019 and 2020. Range was 29.82-30.77 mm for fiber length; 4.62-5.09 mic. for fiber fineness; 31.26-33.36 g tex-1 for fiber strength; 69.62-71.0 for reflectance; 7.70-9.12 for yellowness and 56.04-101.48 for trash count. Although all fiber quality parameters were within the commercial limits, the higher quality fibers were produced in Little Meander and Söke basins in 2019. It was concluded that the main important differences among growing areas of the Aegean region might be in terms of trash count.