PHYSIOLOGY Modification of the Potassium Ferricyanide Reducing Sugar Test for Sugars from Extracts of Cotton Fiber

The potential of cotton lint to stick to processing mill equipment is related to the presence and amount of sugars from physiological and/or insect sources. If levels of physiological sugars are high or significant amounts of insect honeydew contamination are present, lint stickiness can severely limit processing efficiency. As a quality control measure, assays such as the potassium ferricyanide(K3Fe[CN]6) sugar test, have been developed to measure sugar levels on cotton lint. This test is relatively insensitive to two sugars, sucrose and melezitose, which are known to contribute to lint stickiness. These two sugars can be rendered detectable by the addition of a simple acid-hydrolysis step to the standard potassiu