How does cotton disperse its seeds?

Cotton is a plant of the genus Gossypium in the Malvaceae family. Every part of it is useful: it is not only the most important fiber crop, but also an important oil crop, a food crop rich in protein, and a raw material for textiles and fine chemicals as well as an important strategic material. So, how does cotton disperse its seeds?

1. How does cotton disperse its seeds?

Cotton disperses its seeds by wind, animals and people. Cotton is very light, so the wind can blow it around everywhere; when the wind stops, the seeds fall somewhere. Many insects and birds use cotton seeds to build nests or to satisfy their hunger, and after long-distance flight the seeds may drop, or may be excreted with the droppings, and then take root and sprout on the ground. Nowadays cotton seeds are all dispersed by people.

2. Introduction to China's three major cotton-producing regions

China's three major cotton-producing regions include the Xinjiang cotton region, the Yellow River basin cotton region and the Yangtze River basin cotton region.

1. Xinjiang cotton region: mainly includes Xinjiang and the Gansu area. Domestically, Xinjiang cotton is mainly used, and Xinjiang's cotton output accounts for about 50% of China's cotton production. It is an irrigated cotton region; the area has ample sunshine, an arid climate and scarce rainfall; the cropping system is one crop per year, the cotton fields are concentrated, the planting scale is large and the degree of mechanization is high; the yield per unit area is high, the raw cotton has good color, and the content of “three fibers” is lower than in other cotton regions.

2. Yellow River basin cotton region: currently the cotton region with a relatively large cotton planting area in China, including Hebei Province (except north of the Great Wall), Shandong Province, Henan Province (excluding the two areas of Nanyang and Xinyang), southern Shanxi, the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi, Longnan in Gansu, the areas north of the Huai River in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, and the suburbs of Beijing and Tianjin. This region has relatively ample sunshine, fairly good heat conditions, medium soil fertility and moderate annual precipitation; in normal years the fiber quality is relatively good. Cotton from Shandong and Hebei is similar: good color, good luster, long fiber, low short-fiber rate and good strength, one grade higher than that of Hubei, with a small Micronaire value, spinnable into 40-count yarn, but with many three fibers.

3. Yangtze River basin cotton region: commercial cotton production is mainly concentrated in the coastal and riverside cotton regions of Jiangsu, the Yangtze estuary cotton region of Shanghai, the Qiantang River estuary cotton region of Zhejiang, the riverside cotton region of Anhui, the Poyang Lake cotton region of Jiangxi, the Dongting Lake cotton region of Hunan, the Jianghan Plain cotton region of Hubei, the Nanxiang basin cotton region spanning Henan and Hubei, and the Sichuan basin cotton region. Among these, Hunan and Hubei produce relatively large amounts of cotton. Their cotton is characterized by good maturity, a relatively large Micronaire value and relatively coarse fiber; more than 80% of the cotton has a Micronaire value above 4, there are few three fibers, the short-fiber rate is lower than that of Henan, the color is grayish, and it can be spun into 21-count and 32-count yarn.