Statistical analysis of the significance of variation in properties of cotton stalk fibres extracted from different sections of the cotton stalk

Abstract

: - Cotton is cultivated primarily for its boll fibre and little use is made of the cotton stalk. The cotton stalks are breeding ground for pests therefore the stalks are normally burnt in the field creating air pollution. Cotton stalks were collected from farms through random sampling and subjected to natural water retting and there after mechanical decortication and categorised according to their location relative to the stalk as top section, middle section and bottom section fibres. The physical properties of the cotton stalk fibres was characterised by tensile strength, moisture regain, linear density, diameter and fibre length tests. These results were analysed using one way multivariate analysis (MANOVA) in SPSS with three levels being one for each section of the stalks to test the statistical significance of the differences of the fibre properties from different sections of the cotton stalk. Pillais trace test showed that there was statistical significant difference between fibres from different locations when considered jointly on the variables tensile strength, elongation, fibre density, fibre diameter, fibre length, linear density and moisture regain. This test was followed up by Tuskey’s HSD post hoc test which showed which parameters varied between which sections of the stalk.