Abstract:
SiroMat is an instrument that measures cotton fibre maturity directly and accurately. It was
developed by CMSE with financial support from the CRDC and CCC CRC. Its advantage
over other test methods is that it measures maturity directly and is able to measure the fibre to-
fibre distribution of maturity in a specimen. During this project a license to manufacture
and market SiroMat was sold to an Australian SME (BSC Electronics) with a good track
record in instrument development and manufacture. The licensing agreement was signed in
June 2009. A new prototype of the SiroMat instrument has already been built (now called
Cottonscope) by BSC Electronics and trials of it are planned for later this year.
During this project a number of studies were undertaken to demonstrate the value of SiroMat
and SiroMat data to a variety of end-users from research agronomists interested in monitoring
and measuring fibre development in immature bolls to spinners requiring more information to
predict dye uptake and yarn quality.