This Charts Shows Cottonseed Production Quantities by Country
The mature seeds are brown ovoids weighing about a tenth of a gram. By weight, they are 60% cotyledon, 32% coat and 8% embryonic root and shoot. These are 20% protein, 20% oil and 3.5% starch. Fibers grow from the seed coat to form a boll of cotton lint.
The boll is a protective fruit and when the plant is grown commercially, it is stripped from the seed by ginning and the lint is then processed into cotton fibre. For unit weight of fibre, about 1.6 units of seeds are produced. The seeds are about 15% of the value of the crop and are pressed to make oil and used as ruminant animal feed. About 5% of the seeds are used for sowing the next crop.
Cottonseed meal is a good source of protein. The two types of meal extraction processes are solvent extraction and mechanical extraction. Most of the meal is extracted mechanically through cottonseed kernels. The flaked cottonseed kernels are put into high pressure through a screw inside a barrel which is constantly revolving. The screw pushes out the oil through the openings made in the barrel
8 years ago
