National Agricultural Innovation Project

Value Addition in Cotton

Decision Support System

Value Addition in Cotton

Work at CICR…

Production to Consumption System Research – Compunent 2 National Agricultural Innovation Project Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
Consortium Leader	Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology (CIRCOT)
Consortium Partners	Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur Super Spinning Mills Limited (SSM) Coimbatore
Duration of the sub-project	July 2008 to 2012
Total Cost of the Project	Rs.903 lakhs

Objectives of the Project

To grow established cotton genotypes of the long and extra long category in the identified villages with integrated production technology practices.
To reduce the level of contaminants in cotton by adopting scientific on- farm and off farm management practices and to label cotton bales with fibre attributes after appropriate ginning.
To prepare yarn, fabrics and garments in the modern mill & marketing and to manufacture eco-friendly textiles in handloom sector by employing CIRCOT technology for bio-scoring and natural dyes
To ensure additional income to farmers and alternate raw material to industry by utilizing cotton stalks.
To demonstrate innovative scientific processing of cotton seed for oil extraction and value addition to its by- products

Project Description

The Indian textile industry contributes to about 14 % of the industrial production and 4% of the GDP. This sector uses cotton as its major raw material constituting about 62% of the fibre used, unlike the global textile industry that has a mix of 40% cotton and 60% man-made fibre. While 35 million people are directly dependent on this sector for their employment an additional 30 million farmers are involved in the cultivation of cotton being one of the major cash crops of India .

The Indian cotton production has witnessed a sea change during the last five years with the area under cotton cultivation hovering around nine million hectares. The production

Has increased from 240 lakh bales during 2005-06 to 280 lakh bales in 2006-07.The estimated production during 2007-08 is 310 lakh bales and the projected demand by the Ministry of Textiles for 2012 is 375 lakh bales. The productivity has also risen significantly from 320 Kg/ha of the 90s to about 520 Kg/ha in 2006-07.Cotton consumption by the industry has been growing annually at the rate of 10% and in 2006-07, the consumption by both mill and non-mill sector put together stood at 235 lakh bales. Apart from the fact that one-fourth of the yarn produced in India is being sold outside, raw-cotton export has been also growing significantly @ 15% in recent years. In 2006-07, 55 lakh bales of lint were exported.

Value Chain for Cotton: Weak and Missing Links

There exists a value chain for cotton in India. Seed cotton is ginned into lint which is then mechanically processed into yarn and fabric. This is followed by chemical processing and finishing including dyeing or printing and finally converting it to garments and made-ups for both internal consumption and export. However, there are a few weak as well as missing links in this chain.

Lack of scientific management practices both on and off farm for seed cotton picking, storage and transportation to ginneries and market yards in order to reduce trash and avoid contaminants.
Ginning, the primary yet crucial mechanical post harvest processing is one of the weakest links characterized by excessive use of energy, and absence of pre and post cleaning.
Bale-to-bale tagging of fibre attributes is not practiced in India unlike in USA where every bale is characterized for lint quality by using the High Volume Instrumentation. Bale tagging and segregation of bales as per quality results in saving of about 5% in mixing cost in spinning mills.
In the down stream processing such as preparatory chemical treatments like scouring, bleaching etc., lack of energy use efficiency, effluent generation and its treatement are issues that need immediate attention.
Cotton stalks are put to any worthwhile use at all.
More than 95% of the ginned seeds are directly crushed for oil resulting in loss of precious by-products like linters, seed hulls etc. Even the scientific processing of rest of the 5% of seeds is done not as part of the value chain on cotton.

Innovations

Adoption of on-farm and off-farm management practices
Tagging of Individual Bales with fibre attributes
Microbiological (Bioscouring) scouring of yarns and fabrics
Removal of linters from enzyme pretreated seeds
Enhanced oil recovery from kernals due to enzyme pretreatment
Enrichment of cotton seed hulls with microbila proteins with enhanced digestibility
Biological pretreatment of cotton stalks for seeding oyster mushrooms
Establishment of cotton stalk supply chain to board industry
Gossypol free protein from cotton seed kernel

Research components

Efficacy of fabrics dyed with natural dyes for UV protection
Enzymatic pre treatment of seed for faster linter recovery
Enzymatic pretreatment of kernal for enhanced oil recovery
Production of edible protein (gossypol-free) from seed kernal
Preparation of briquetters from waste generated during cotton stalk collection and cleaning

Development components

Integrated cotton cultivation with best crop management practices
Appropriate picking and on- farm management and transportation of seed cotton
Tagging of individual bales with fibre attributes
Manufacture of yarn, fabric and garment in organized & handloom sector
Bio scouring of yarn and fabric
New dyeing techniques with natural dyes for improved fastness properties
Supply chain for cotton plant stalk
Manufacture of composite boards from stalk
Low energy pretreatment for sterilization of cotton stalk for raising edible mushrooms
Bio enrichment of cotton seed hulls

Environment and social Impact

Following benefits are expected to flow to farming community/rural households/environment once the value chain as envisaged in the project is put into operation

Reduction in the use of insecticides/pesticides in cotton cultivation.
Reduction in dust level in ginneries
Energy efficient pre-processing of textiles and low pollutants in the effluent load.
Eco-friendly natural dyes in Handloom products.

Monitoring Indicators

Expected Outcome/Deliverables

Area	Activity	Expected Out Come
Cotton Production	Incorporation of best crop Management Practices	• 15% more yield with desired quality attributes (high strength,appropriate micronaire,low trash,high ginning outturn) • 5% premium price for quality produce.
Post harvest Management	Better on-farm and off-farm practices & Quality Characterization of each bale	• Reduction in trash content in cotton (from the present 4-5%, to around 1-2%) • Reduction in mixing cost (5% saving in spinning cost) • Yarn with better quality (higher strength, more uniformity)
Chemical Pre-Processing	Bio scouring	• Eco-friendly(COD level reduced to 50 from 150) Reduction in energy consumption by 100 kwhr for a batch of 25 kg fabric/yarn
Dyeing	Natural dyes for yarns and Fabrics	• Eco-friendly • Effluent water fit for irrigation • Workers safely
Cotton Stalks utilization	Chipping, board Manufacture, Mushroom Growing, briquetting	• Additional income to farmers (Rs.500/- per tonne of stalks) • Energy efficient process for growing mushrooms (Saving of 50 units of electricity for a batch of 50 Kg raw material) • An alternate raw material for board industry
Scientific processing of cotton seed	Enzymatic pretreatment.Bio enrichment of hulls. Protein extraction from Kernel	• Enhanced oil Recovery. (1% increase in oil yield) • Energy efficient delinting (20% reduction in energy consumption) • Edible protein from kernel (gossypol-free, food grade)

Decision Support System

National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP-ICAR), New Delhi Theme Area : Integrated Pest Management (IPM) NAIP Component 4 : Basic and Strategic Research, Reg. No. of the proposal: C 2046
Consortium Leader	Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad
Consortium Partners	Central Institute for Cotton Research,Nagpur Directorate of Rice Research, Hyderabad Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New Delhi
Duration of the sub-project	July 2008 to 2012
Total Cost of the Project	Rs. 322.60 lakhs.

Objectives of the sub-project

Generation of cropping system based information on population biology of major insect pests of rice and cotton required for robust model development
Development of pest forewarning models and decision support systems in rice and cotton for use at micro and macro levels

Project Description

Cotton and Rice account for nearly 70% of the pesticides used in the country. The decline in the natural enemy composition in rice ecosystem by 3.5 times and in cotton ecosystem by 12 times clearly indicates the ill effects of pesticides. Knowledge and information is the key to judicious pest management decisions, which can lead to rational use of pesticides. Integrated Pest Management is a system that emphasizes appropriate decision-making and depends heavily on accurate and timely information for field implementation by practitioners. Forecast of pests is an important component of the broad IPM philosophy. Past data sets on crop-pest-disease-weather relations will be used in development of a usable database. The sub project involves field studies in two major cropping systems: rice-based and cotton-based cropping systems for development of pest forewarning models based both on biological and ecological processes. The rice-based cropping systems include rice-ricepulse, rice-wheat and rice-rice-rice systems targeting stem borer, brown plant hopper, and white backed plant hopper and leaf folder. The cotton based cropping systems include cotton + pigeonpea/fallow, cotton-wheat and cotton-groundnut/maize sequence targeting mealy bug, mirid bugs, pink bollworm and Helicoverpa bollworm. These field studies will result in generating information on off-season survival, pest-carry over on alternate hosts and pestnatural enemy interactions.

Complementing field studies, laboratory experiments under controlled environmental conditions will generate data on developmental growth rates for mealy bug and mirid bugs in cotton; WBPH and leaf folder in rice. These studies will lead to insect phenology models for estimating the timing of pest attack. Extrapolation of model results over larger areas is possible through remote sensing techniques. First, generation of spectral library using hand held spectro-radiometer for crop damage due to insect pests will aid in developing pest specific vegetation indices which in turn leads to area-wide crop condition assessment using space borne remote sensing data. Further, derivation of spatial distribution of meteorological variables will lead to extrapolation of model outputs at the regional level. Integration of all the four components i.e., past database; generated data on field, laboratory and remote sensing studies though the development of a decision support system will strengthen the on-going integrated pest management delivery in rice and cotton with objectivity.

Main innovations being attempted are:

Earlier pest forewarning models are based on individual crops. However, pest population dynamics cannot be understood properly unless the whole cropping systems are studied. Therefore, in this study the approach is cropping system based which will include bio-ecological variables like off-season survival, pest-carry over and natural enemies to account for variability in pest populations to a higher extent so that the forewarning models are more practical and useful.
Use of hyper-spectral technique for pest detection is still evolving and has ambiguities. In this study the technique will be used to detect and resolve the ambiguities with respect to insect pests of rice and cotton.

Outputs

Field population dynamics for four major pests (stem borer Scirpophaga incertulas, brown plant hopper Nilaparvata lugens, white-backed plant hopper Sogatella furcifera, leaf folder Cnaphalocrosis medinalis) of rice based cropping systems (Rice-Rice-Pulse, Rice-Wheat, Rice-Rice-Rice) and four pests (mealy bug, Phenacoccus solenopsis; mirid bugs, Crenotiades spp and Ragmus spp; Pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossyppiella and American bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera) of cotton based cropping systems (cotton-wheat, cotton-groundnut/maize and cotton+pigeonpea-fallow).
Establish relationships between ambient temperature and growth rates of different developmental stages of mealy bug, mirid bug in cotton; white-backed plant hopper and leaf folder in rice.
Establishment of spectral signatures for crop damage due to cotton mealy bug; brown plant hopper, white backed plant hopper and leaf folder in rice using hyperspectral radiometry.
Development of pest forewarning models for six cropping systems.
Integrated decision support systems for rice and cotton pest management in six cropping systems.

Expected outcome and impact of the project

The most important outcome of the project would be an understanding of the cropping system based population dynamics and development of more robust pest forewarning models.
Combining ground level studies on crop and pest damage; satellite borne remote sensing data and derivation of spatially distributed meteorological variables will lead to extrapolation of pest forewarning at macro level

Activities for CICR

Objective/activity	Milestone and when to be attained			Expected output
Objective/activity	First Year	Second Year	Third Year	Expected output
S.Vennila (SV), G. Majumdar (GM) (Nagpur), Dharajothi (DJ), M Sabesh (MS), M Amutha (MA)(Coimbatore), Rishi Kumar (RK) (Sirsa)
Objective 1: Generation of cropping system based information on population biology of major insect pests of rice and cotton required for robust model development
Field cum laboratory studies on field growth rates for mealy bug, pink bollworm and mirids in cotton. (SV, MA, DJ, MS, RK)	Field growth rates and key mortality factors quantified; Scientific methods of sampling for mealy bugs and mirids	Field growth rates and key mortality factors quantified	–	Publication
Developmental rates for Mealybug and mirids (SV, MA, DJ, RK)	Constant temperature experiments for each life stage	Constant temperature experiments for each life stage	–	Publication
Cropping system based field studies on population dynamics of target pests in cotton at Nagpur (Cotton + Pigeonpea -Fallow), Sirsa (Cotton-Wheat) and Coimbatore (Cotton-Groundnut / Cotton-Maize) (SV, MA, GM, DJ, RK)	Population dynamics of mealy bug, mirid bug, Pink bollworm and other cotton pests in different cropping system scenarios	Population dynamics of target pests, GIS technique to study cotton based cropping systems for spatial and temporal relationships for an identified location	Population dynamics in cropping systems for validation	Models based on data mining; Publication
Generation of spectral library using hand held spectro radio meter for crop damage due mealybug in cotton (SV, MA, DJ, RK)	Spectral profiles of crop damage associated with target pests in cotton	Spectral profiles of crop damage associated with target pests in cotton	–	Spectral library for pest damage in cotton
Objective 2: Development of pest forewarning models and decision support systems in rice and cotton for use at micro and macro levels
Compilation and analysis of historical data sets (pest bio-ecology, distribution, crop and pest management practices, models and existing decision support systems) for all pests including diseases in cotton (SV, MA, MS, RK)	Compilation of existing information Design of standard dataset formats	Updating past data	–	Compiled existing knowledge and past data
Development of pest forewarning models through use of generated key biotic and abiotic parameters and existing database (SV, MA, GM, DJ, RK, MS)	Pest forewarning modeling for cotton pests using past database	Pest forewarning modeling for cotton pests using generated data	Pest forewarning modeling for cotton pests using both past and generated data	Forewarning models for cotton pests
Development of decision support systems cotton (SV, MA, GM, DJ, MS, RK)		Development of DSS framework	Integration of pest models & DSS	DSS for pests in cotton

Name of the lead Consortium (Consortium leader)
Consortium leader	Website	Designation of Head of Organization	Telephone/Email
Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad	www.crida.ernet.in	Director	Phone:040-24530177 director@crida.ernet.in , ramakrishna.ys@crida.ernet. in
Names of cooperating institutions (Consortium partners)
Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur	http://cicr.org.in	Director	Phone:07103-275536 cicrngp@rediffmail.com
Directorate of Rice Research, Hyderabad	http://www.drricar.org	Project Director	Phone:040-24015120 pdrice@drricar.org
Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad	http://www.sac.gov.in	Director	Phone:079-26913344 director@sac.isro.gov.in
National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New Delhi	http://www.ncipm.org.in	Director	Phone:011-25843958 ipmnet@bol.net.in

Information Compiled by Dr. M. Sabesh Source: CICR Annual reports: updated: 09:06:2023

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