Cotton Genomics and Genetics 2025, Vol.16, No.2, 95-106 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/cgg 100 Processed Fine Cotton" series standards), and notarized inspections are used to ensure fairness and justice. Each bale of cotton is sold with a "Cotton Notarized Inspection Certificate" issued by the fiber inspection department, which states the various quality indicators of the bale of cotton, which is equivalent to an official quality certification. Textile companies pay particular attention to whether these indicators meet their raw material requirements when purchasing. With the strengthening of the concept of sustainable development, more and more international buyers also require cotton in the supply chain to comply with BCI or organic certification. It is reported that since October 2023, BCI has launched a new chain of custody standard that allows physical tracking of BCI good cotton in the global supply chain, achieving label separation and controlled mixing from origin to product. This means that if Chinese cotton obtains BCI certification in the future, its identity can be tracked all the way to the garment manufacturing stage, which will be of great help in expanding the international high-end market. 5 Sustainability and Economic Efficiency of Post-Harvest Technology 5.1 Cost-benefit analysis While promoting post-harvest quality improvement technologies for cotton, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the environmental sustainability and economic feasibility of these technologies. The application of any new technology needs to be tested by economic accounts. Post-harvest management technologies such as mechanical harvesting, advanced cotton ginning equipment, and digital monitoring systems often require large initial investments, but can bring long-term benefits by improving efficiency and quality (Shao et al., 2022). In Xinjiang, the large-scale use of cotton pickers to replace manual cotton picking has effectively reduced harvesting costs. Although the purchase and maintenance costs of mechanical harvesting equipment are high, the unit output cost is significantly reduced for large-scale planting. In addition, the improvement of cotton quality can also bring price premiums. For example, the purchase price of cotton with less impurities and longer fibers in the market is often hundreds of yuan higher per ton than ordinary cotton. In the spinning stage, high-quality raw cotton can improve the strength and yarn yield of the yarn, reduce the breakage rate, and thus reduce the production cost of the textile mill. These values will eventually be reflected in the cotton purchase price. Therefore, from the perspective of the entire value chain, investing in post-harvest quality management technology has a clear economic driver. Some cost-benefit evaluation studies have shown that the introduction of cleaning equipment and automated grading systems slightly increased the processing cost per ton of lint cotton, but the added value brought by quality improvement was greater, and the net benefit was positive (Tian et al., 2018). Of course, the economic benefits vary with different business entities and scales: for large cotton companies or cooperatives, the scale effect of technology investment is obvious; but for small farmers, it may be necessary to share the initial costs through cooperative organizations or government subsidies to ensure their enthusiasm for adopting new technologies. 5.2 Environmental friendliness and waste treatment A large number of by-products and wastes will be generated during cotton harvesting and processing, such as cotton seeds, cotton linters, cotton stalks, fallen impurities and cotton dust. How to reasonably utilize these by-products and reduce the impact of waste on the environment is an important aspect of measuring the sustainability of technology. First of all, cotton seeds, as the main by-product after cotton ginning, have a high oil content and are an important oil and protein feed resource. Traditionally, cotton seeds can be stripped and pressed to produce cottonseed oil and cottonseed meal, realizing economic value and recycling. At present, some cotton ginning enterprises have built supporting processing projects that can process hundreds of thousands of tons of cotton seeds per day to make full use of cotton seeds. Secondly, cotton seed linters (short fibers attached to cotton seeds after ginning) can be obtained through the delinting process and can be used to produce medical absorbent cotton, cellulose materials, etc. (Orr, 1978). Thirdly, cotton straw is the plant residue after harvesting in the field, including the stems, branches, leaves and shells of cotton plants, etc., rich in cellulose and lignin, and is a renewable biomass resource. It is estimated that China's annual production of cotton straw reaches tens of millions of tons. In the past, cotton stalks were mostly burned or discarded on the spot, causing environmental pollution. Nowadays, the comprehensive utilization rate of cotton stalks is constantly improving through the promotion of
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