SOW Cotton Seed Analysis.docx

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE

CGRU

SPECIFICATIONS

Cotton FY21-22

Statement of Work (SOW) Project: National Cotton Variety Test (NCVT)

GENERAL INFORMATION

1.0 Scope of Work:

The National Cotton Variety Test (NCVT) program organizes annual tests of cotton varieties across U.S. Cotton Belt. The NCVT tests evaluate cotton yield, fiber quality, and seed quality traits and publishes results on the web to share for cotton breeders in U.S. The cotton seed quality traits include oil content, protein content, and gossypol content. A range of 300 to 1000 seed samples needs to be analyzed annually. The goal of this project is to improve cotton seed quality and promote profits for cotton producers.

CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS

3.0 Technical Requirements/Tasks:

The official methods for cotton seed testing are issued by the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS). All samples will then be properly split into two portions. One portion will be subjected to the fuming procedure (AOCS Method Aa 4–38). This portion will be ground and used in the determination of nitrogen (AOCS Method Ba 4f-00), oil (AOCS Method Aa 4–38) and moisture (AOCS Method Aa 4–38). The other portion will be cracked to obtain hull–free kernels, required for the gossypol analysis (AOCS Method Ba 8a-99).

Oil measurement: The analysis must be executed promptly with a minimum exposure to oxidation and once started, it must be operated without interruption or delay; the seed samples must be pre-dried prior to the fuming and grinding procedure to approximately 3% moisture in the ground portion resulting from the fuming and grinding procedures. It is required that the moisture content in the ground sample be reported together with the oil content to enable the determination of the oil content on a dry basis.

Nitrogen measurement: The system equipped in apparatus must be capable of measuring nitrogen in seeds containing 0.2-20% nitrogen; accuracy of the system must be demonstrated by making multiple determinations of nitrogen in two or more types of reference standards; means of determinations must be within + 0.5% relative of the respective theoretical values; suitable fineness of grind should be < 0.5mm. It is required that the moisture content in the ground sample be reported together with the nitrogen content to enable the determination of the nitrogen content on a dry basis

Gossypol measurement: Immediately after obtaining the hull-free kernels, they are dried in a forced-draft oven at 180 F for 4 hours. At the end of 4 hours drying, the kernels are immediately placed in moisture-proof containers and cooled. In proceeding with the HPLC Method every effort is made to prevent the kernels from regaining moisture. This modification reduces free moisture in the kernels with which the gossypol could interact and become bound to the protein thus reducing the free gossypol content.

A minimum of 50 g cotton seed of each cotton sample will be shipped to the contractor. Results of seed trait measurements will be reported in excel files in a format acceptable to the Crop Genetics Research Unit through email. The measurements not meeting these technical specifications will not be reported.

4.0 Place of performance:

To Be Determined

Reporting requirement:

Key Deliverables Item No.

Deliverable

Objective

Due

7.0 Travel:

No travel is required for this service.