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Peanut skins are an agro-waste product with no commercial value. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate peanut skin as a natural dyestuff and to determine if this natural dye could be used in the dyeing of some Egyptian cotton cultivars.

The methodology consists of several steps; dye extraction procedure from peanut skin through aqueous extraction, then dyeing optimized using simultaneous mordanting using alum. Finally, dyed cotton has been subjected to different textile laboratory tests, for example, color measurements and mechanical properties. Color-fastness was determined on Egyptian cotton fabric. The peanut skin as a source of natural dye and the dyed cotton sample were characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis.

It was found that the natural dye extracted from peanut skin has an affinity for cotton samples and showed high dyeability with a unique color shade, good color strength and very good fastness.

The novelty of this paper is the extraction of color from the peanut's outer skin which is discarded as waste such as agro-waste of the agricultural process which can be used as a natural dye in the textile industry and applied to dyeing some Egyptian cotton fibers from different genotypes.

The aim of this chapter is to develop a strong research base for the academia and the industry to understand the importance of data analytics in International Trade. This chapter focuses on the case of cotton trade from India and explores different methodologies developed by the World Bank and International Trade Center to analyze the Big Data available on export and import. Through Big Data analysis, this chapter attempts to find out the export performance, market demand, export potential, and attractive markets for Indian cotton. This chapter also explores the trade competitiveness of Indian cotton over the years. The data through appropriate analysis can address some simple yet complicated questions in trade like what export potential the commodity holds, if the commodity is competitive or not in international market, what are new markets to look up to, and other similar questions. In other words, this information could make huge difference in decision-making of traders and policymakers directly, and farmers indirectly.

The purpose of this study is to analyze structural changes that took place in the cotton industry and develop a statistical model that reflects the current drivers of U.S. upland cotton prices. This study concludes that a structural break in the U.S. cotton industry occurred in 1999, and that world cotton supply has become an important determinant of U.S. cotton prices. The model developed here forecasts changes in U.S. cotton price based on changes in U.S. cotton supply, changes in U.S. stocks-to-use ratio (S/U), changes in China's net imports as a share of world consumption, the proportion of U.S. cotton engaged in the loan program, and changes in world supply of cotton.

World agriculture faces enormous challenges in the coming decades. To feed the world adequately in 2050, agricultural production in developing economies will need to nearly double. Incremental production will mainly come from increases in yields or cropping intensities. This chapter focuses on the potential of genetically modified (GM) crops to contribute to agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction in developing economies. On the basis of a comprehensive literature review of the most recent literature, we aim to shed light on (a) whether GM crops benefit farmers in developing economies and (b) whether GM crops that are currently in the research pipeline address future challenges for agriculture. The first part of the chapter reviews farm-level impacts of GM crops in developing economies. The second part discusses the GM crop research pipeline. GM crop markets are expected to grow in the future but not to change dramatically. We conclude that GM crops benefited farmers, including resource-poor farmers, in developing economies, but benefits are location- and individual-specific. Addressing such complexities will be required to unlock technology potentials.

The textile sector struggles with cotton stickiness from honeydew contamination. It hurts agriculture and marketability. This study aims to examine how bacterial enzymes could reduce honeydew-contaminated cotton adherence in textile businesses sustainably.

Enzyme was extracted from bacteria isolated from the fermented bamboo shoots “Lung siej”. The enzyme was tested for α-glucosidase using p-nitrophenyl-α-D-glucopyranoside as a substrate. Design of experiments determined enzyme activity temperature and reaction time. Laboratory-prepared artificial honeydew was added to ginning mill cotton to show honeydew contamination. After enzyme treatment, sticky cotton was tested for microscopic examination, ultraviolet (UV), Benedict’s, Elsner colorimetric, high volume instrument (HVI) and viscosity tests.

The bacterial isolate is characterized as Lysinibacillus sp. as confirmed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The enzyme extracted was identified as α-glucosidase. The ideal temperature and reaction time for enzymatic activity were 32 °C and 35 min, respectively, using central composite design. The microscopic examination, UV test, Benedict’s test, Elsner colorimetric test, HVI test and viscosity test showed that bacterial enzyme treatment reduced cotton fiber adherence.

Although few patents have examined the effect of yeast enzymes, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, a bacterial enzyme is investigated for the first time to reduce the adhesion of honeydew-contaminated cotton.

Purpose – The globally controversial genetically modified (GM) cotton has been adopted widely by Indian farmers. Claiming the adoption to be a success of the GM technology, the GM proponents call for a large-scale introduction of GM crops in Indian agriculture. Opposition to GM crops is largely constructed in terms of the environmental risks that GM technologies pose to crop and forest biodiversity. This chapter examines the economic and political context in which these seeds were adopted to see if adequate support mechanisms were available to farmers to facilitate adoption of the new technology.

Design/methodology/approach – A field study was conducted in Vidharbha, Eastern Maharashtra. In addition, government reports and newspaper articles were reviewed and interviews were conducted in Maharashtra and Delhi.

Findings – This chapetr finds that the problems faced by farmers are much deeper than what technology can solve or which have been addressed in the GM debate. Cotton farmers face persistent problems in the agricultural production process that increase their production costs. A spate of farmer's suicides in Vidharbha and other rain-fed regions of India epitomizes the dire conditions farmers are in. This chapter asserts that state-supported policies transformed India from a food importing to a food surplus country in the 1960s during the green revolution. However, GM cotton has been introduced without a supportive infrastructure for technology transfer in Maharashtra and most cotton-growing states. The lack of support makes the gain of cotton farmers in Vidharbha from the new technology highly uncertain.

Originality/value – This analysis shows the need to examine the role of government programs in helping farmers implement technological advances in agriculture.

Agri-biotech multinational enterprises (MNEs) are persisting to push genetically modified plant varieties (GMV) worldwide including emerging countries as a technological solution for sustainable development. However, in emerging countries, the structure and effectiveness of regulation and compliance measures to ensure human and environmental safety are much less developed. There are three types of concerns: the economic risks faced by farmers while using existing low-yielding conventional seed varieties, in the face of inadequate institutional mechanisms and safety nets, the long-term environmental risks, and finally, risks posed by other possible externalities. In an attempt to provide some insight on the aforementioned debate, this chapter focuses on a commercially successful GMV—namely genetically modified cotton, also referred to as Bt cotton. The literature on adoption of Bt cotton is first examined, and its findings are confronted with the reality of the introduction and diffusion of Bt cotton in India to derive inferences on how MNE and emerging countries’ governments can manage coexistence. Our findings indicate that in order to be successful, MNEs have to establish the sociopolitical legitimacy of GMV through investment in outreach with regulatory authorities, government departments dealing with the environmental and bio safety, farmer groups, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). MNEs also have to keep in mind that pricing and high technology fee can become an impediment for the legitimization of technology. Finally, MNEs can partner with NGOs to educate and accompany farmers to maximize their livelihood, while preserving the ecological sustainability of their farm lands.

This study aims to promote sustainability-based education in fashion design and merchandising program to enhance students’ knowledge, skills and attitude about sustainability development, organizational responsibility and personal responsibility from the cotton industry perspective.

To conduct this study, three learning components were considered: learning from experts, learning by doing and outreach activity. Sustainability-related topics were strategically incorporated in different courses for one year; project-based learning approach was adopted; and pre–posttest survey was conducted to study the impact of sustainability-based education on student learning outcome. Rand’s principles-attributes matrix was applied to analyze the impact of sustainable education on student learning outcomes.

The results of course projects indicated enhanced student’s abilities on using use different types of cotton materials in product development, creative use of cotton in visual merchandising and development of business plans focused on sustainability. The two-group mean comparisons showed a significant positive impact on students’ knowledge in cotton and sustainability, followed by students’ skills and attitudes.

In response to the lack of systematic approach to incorporate sustainability-related topics in textile and apparel design discipline, this study offered an opportunity to involve approximately 110 students in various sustainability-based teaching and learning projects.

Bales of cotton run through the gins and textile mill instruments, stick to them and make it cumbersome for the ginning mill workers. This is so because more time and money have to be invested in cleaning these instruments. The stickiness of cotton causes health hazards to the workers, decreases the yarn quality and economic loss to the textile industry. The effect of cotton stickiness on textile ginning, various methods for cotton stickiness detection and the steps for reduction are discussed.

The different methods that are available for detecting and measuring cotton stickiness are described. The sugars that cause stickiness are either of plant origin (physiological sugars) or from the feeding insects (entomological origin). The methods for stickiness detection and reduction are discussed under physical, chemical and biological categories.

This review suggests possible ways to mitigate cotton stickiness.

One of the major issues of the textile industry is honeydew-contaminated cotton stickiness. However, there are few papers on detection methods for analyzing honeydew cotton stickiness along with the approaches to reduce stickiness. This paper summarizes different methods along with a study for detection as well as reduction of cotton stickiness.

This study aims to develop multifunctional, namely, superhydrophobic, flame-retardant and antibacterial, coatings over cotton fabric, using casein as green-based flame-retardant and silver nanoparticles as antibacterial agent by solution immersion method.

The cotton fabric is first coated with casein to make it flame-retardant. AgNPs synthesized using Cinnamomum zeylanicum bark extract is coated over the casein layer. Finally, stearic acid is used to coat the cotton to make it superhydrophobic. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy analysis and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy are used to investigate the produced AgNPs. The as-prepared multifunctional cotton is characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and attenuated total reflection-infrared studies. Flame test, limiting oxygen index test and thermogravimetric analyzer studies have also been performed to study the flame-retardant ability and thermal stability of treated fabric, respectively. The antibacterial effect of the coatings is evaluated by disc-diffusion technique. Water contact angle is determined to confirm the superhydrophobic nature of cotton fabric.

The outcomes of this study showed that the prepared multifunctional cotton fabric had maximum contact angle of greater than 150° with good flame retardancy, high thermal stability, greater washing durability and high antibacterial activity against the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter indicus. Additionally, the as-prepared superhydrophobic cotton showed an excellent oil–water separation efficiency.

The trilayered multifunctional cotton fabric has limiting washing durability up to 20 washing cycles. Treated functional fabric can be used as an antibacterial, therapeutic, water repellent and experimental protective clothing for medical, health care, home curtains and industrial and laboratory purposes.

The study brings out the robustness of this method in the development of multifunctional cotton fabrics.