Indian scientists have successfully developed new shades of naturally-grown coloured cotton aimed at commercializing the technique to fulfill the requirements of textile mills.
A team of four researchers at the BM College of Agriculture, Khandwa, part of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Cotton developed four shades of brown cotton grown through conventional method by mixing different wild varieties of cotton collected from across India. The team is now working on making it commercially viable through increased yield, strength and larger size.
Dr Devendra Kumar Shrivastava, the plant breeder of the project said, “Traditionally we have seen and used white cotton but there are coloured varieties that are not cultivated by farmers because coloured varieties yields are less and they have poor fibre strength and length. But now we are working on enhancing the characteristics of coloured variety so that they can be commercially used.”
The college had already developed a cotton variety that is of dark brown colour called JCC1 around five years ago but the variety is not in use due to poor yields and short fibre length making it unacceptable by textile mills. Researchers at the college said that fibre length of coloured cotton is around 26mm, while textile mills want at least 28-30mm. Poor yields and chances of contamination with white cotton makes it unviable for farmers.
Entomologist Dr SK Parsai, agronomist Dr JP Mehta, under the guidance of BM College of Agriculture dean Dr UPS Bhadauriya are now working to develop a stronger variety of coloured cotton that can be used by textile mills. According to researchers, the latest coloured variety of cotton developed by the college yielded 8 to 14 quintals /hectares, while fibre length has been grown to 28-32 mm.
