Cotton Essay

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History Of cotton
Cotton has been grown in India for making clothing more than 200 years, and in certain other countries for several 100 years. Early European travelers return from southern Asia with seeing wool growing on trees. Early herbalists sometimes illustrate the cotton plants by drawings of sheep’s hanging from the branches of the trees. Apparently tree types of cotton were grown to a considerable extent at that time. Furthermore, a cotton plant growing as a perennial in the tropics can attain a size of a small tree .even today it is called as baumicolle (pre wool) by the generals Columbus found cotton growing in the West Indies. Cotton fabric probably 800 years old has been found in Indian ruins in Arizona. There probably are two general centers of origin of the cotton phase i.e. indo china and tropical Africa in the old world and south and central America in the new world. Separate origins are indicated by the consistently fertile hybrids have been obtained the 26 chromosome American cotton and the 13 chromosome Asiatic cotton.
Botanical description
Cotton belongs to the family malvaceae or mallow family. Upland cotton (gssypium hirsutum) fibers range from 1/2 to 1 inch or more in length and are of medium coarseness. The flowers are creamy white when they first open but they soon turn pink or red. The lint fibers adhere strangely to the seed. The bolls usually contain 4 or 5 locks. Cotton plant usually considered an annual although it is long lived perennial in the tropics where the mean temperature of the coldest months does not fall below 65°F. The plant is herbaceous.
Economic importance
Cotton is the major textile fiber used by man. Cotton was grown on more than 5 lacs farmers in 19 states in 1959 in USA. The world...

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...sallus seriatus)
Cotton aphid (aphis gossipy)
Whitefly
Army worm (helicoverpa armegera)
Diseases of cotton
Following are some important diseases of cotton worldwide.
Foot rot caused by fungus (phymatotrichum onicorum)
Fusarium wilt caused by fungus (fusarium oxysporium)
Verticillium wilt caused by soil inhebiting fungus (verticulium alboatrum) attacks on roots
Other is leaf blights, bacterial blights, leaf spots,
And some are seed-borne.
Harvesting
Cotton bolls are picked manually by hands after they mature. The fuzz is collected in a bag then seeds are separated and fiber is sent to reeling industries. Mechanical pickers are equipped with rotating steals spindles attached to revolving drum or moving bars, but this practice is not very common in Pakistan. The stripers are used as a mechanical harvester sometimes. There is a need for improving production technology.

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