BOTANICAL TRASH PRESENT IN COTTON BEFORE AND AFTER SAW-TYPE LINT CLEANING

Inhalation of vegetable dusts in cotton textile mills can cause byssinosis in susceptible workers. These dusts are generated from the micronization of various cotton and weed plant parts (trash) trapped with lint during machine harvesting and ginning. The percent by weight content of leaf-like, stem, boll, seed and weed materials sifted (3360 .mu.m > particle size .gtoreq. 595 .mu.m) from visible wastes of the Shirley Analyzer was determined for a lint sample taken after ginning but before cleaning and for a 2nd lint sample taken after 1 stage of saw-type cleaning. The percent by weight content for bract and leaf increased with decreasing trash particle size. The content of cotton seed coat fragments decreased with reduction in trash particle size. About 1/4 of the botanical wastes consisted of weed material, including grass particles. Lint cleaning was ineffective in reducing the percent by weight content of leaf-like trash. Some selective removal of stem trash occurred as a function of lint cleaning.