Testing for Honeydew on Various Sorts of Cotton Fibres

Abstract

Comprehensive investigation was done concerned with the possibility of applying various tests for qualitative and semi-qualitative determination of honeydew on cotton. Fourteen different sorts of cotton, grown at various geographic areas, were tested. Preliminary investigations indicate that the Benedict test and the Bremen test can be recommended as most appropriate for use in spinning mill laboratories, when qualitative determination is requested, while the Formazan test can best be used to determine the distribution of honeydew on cotton fibres. The procedures are described in all the details necessary for practical application. The Bremen and Formazan test are also adapted for quantitative determination of honeydew on the basis of spectroscopic determination of the absorbency of solutions obtained by treating cotton samples in chemical agents used in such tests. The results obtained indicate that the Formazan test yields, for the same cotton fibre sample, higher values of glucose and fructose than the Bremen test. Quantitative determination is recommended as supplementary to qualitative ones.