Cottonseed Hulls Cottonseed Hulls
English: COTTONSEED HULLS The cottonseeds are separated by a shelling machine, and the cotton kernels are used for oil extraction. The remaining shell is the cottonseed hulls, also called cotton husks. Depending on the type of shelling machinery, cotton seed varieties, origins, moisture contents, and the degree of sieving of the crushed cotton kernel powder after shelling, etc. The size, color, lint length, and nutritional content (including cotton kernel powder) of the processed cottonseed shells are also different. Cottonseed hulls are mainly used for: cultivating edible and medicinal fungi, as feed, raising livestock, etc. The seed cotton is processed by a gin to remove cotton seeds to obtain lint, and the cotton seeds are processed by a peeling machine to obtain first, second, and third short lint. The more times the cotton lint is peeled, the less lint will remain. At this time, the cotton seed is called "light seed". On the other hand, the cotton seed with more lint remaining is called "hairy seed". Most of the cotton husks produced by Guangseed are small (less) velvet husks or "iron husks". Cotton husks with less iron husks and cotton kernel powder contain less cellulose and are suitable for cultivating wood-rot fungi; cotton husks with more velvet and more cotton kernels and powder have less cellulose content. It has high content of vitamins and is suitable for cultivating grass rot fungus. Cottonseed hulls are known as a universal culture medium for edible and medicinal fungi. Cottonseed husks are usually divided into large, medium and small husks, or are divided into large velvet husks, medium velvet husks, small velvet husks, and those with very little velvet are even called "iron husks" based on the amount of lint. The amount of lint content depends on the time when the raw material cottonseed is stripped of lint. If cotton linters are sold at a high price, manufacturers will try to remove as much lint as possible. The size of cotton husk does not make much difference in terms of yield in edible fungus cultivation. Because many oil factories produce large shells and then crush them into small shells to meet the cultivation requirements. This mainly reflects the technical requirements for bagging density during the cultivation of edible fungi: bagging with small shells at too high a density will cause poor ventilation of the fungi; while bagging with large shells can easily cause damage to the cultivation bags. When the normal moisture content of raw cotton seeds is the same, the color of the cotton husk can usually tell the quality of the cotton husk: if the color is whitish (dry-like), there is a tingling sensation when holding the hand tightly, and there is no or only a very small amount of broken cotton kernel powder, it is due to Shelling machines used in pursuit of high oil content (especially new machines or when processing phenol-free cotton protein) have a very low crushing rate of cotton kernels when breaking the shell, resulting in a low powder content. Of course, it affects the color and the cottonseed processing. It is related to temperature, process, sieving, and the moisture stored after breaking the shell. The northwest of this type of cotton shell produces more, and most of them are large-scale oil plants processed by new machines. This kind of cotton shell has the lowest nutritional content and is low in price, making it suitable for growing wood-rotting fungi. On the contrary, if the color is brown or yellow, it will feel soft and greasy when held in the hand, and there will be a lot of broken cotton kernel powder. If the water is washed with an appropriate amount of water, it will be thick like rice soup color, milky white, etc., indicating that the nutrient content of the cotton shell is extremely high, and the corresponding appearance will appear. The oil level is low! It is usually produced by old-fashioned machines (grinding disc, disc cutting machine). This kind of cotton shell is mostly produced in production areas such as the Yangtze River Basin and Henan Province or in old oil factories. The price is generally higher, and it is suitable for growing grass-rot fungi or fungi that require high nutritional content. Since the cottonseed hull market is extremely irregular, buyers should pay attention to whether oil plants have self-prepared delinting machines or non-delinting equipment: Oil plants with delinting equipment will produce a large amount of short lint scraps and scraps for a long time during the production process. The dust is mixed into the cotton husks (although it has no effect on the nutritional content of the cotton husks. It is slightly better to mix it after crushing it in the existing factory). The lint dust and scraps have extremely fine fibers and are easily kneaded into large lumps of bread and meat floss, which are edible. Mixtures for fungus cultivation can easily cause uneven mixing. What's more, some are short in weight, mixed with sediment, and sprayed at the shell outlet to increase the weight. According to the second issue of "Journal of Edible Fungi" in 2009, the toxic free gossypol contained in cottonseed hulls can be decomposed within safe values ??through fermentation (pasteurization) pretreatment or high-temperature and high-pressure sterilization before cultivation of edible fungi; there is also "Cotton The saying that the content of cotton kernels in the husk is too high will seriously affect the growth of bacteria: this has been proven to be untrue in practical cultivation! Since the cultivation of edible fungi is a very complex biochemical process, you cannot make a conclusion based on a certain phenomenon encountered! That is obviously unscientific. For example, most edible fungus cultivators in Gutian County, Fujian Province, which is known as the "Edible Fungus Capital of China", prefer cottonseed husks with yellow color and high cotton kernels for cultivating grass-rot fungi. We have not encountered the problem of "affecting the growth of bacteria". However, improper pretreatment of cottonseed hull raw materials during the cultivation of edible fungi will cause serious consequences of "affecting the growth of bacteria" or even no bacteria! For example, oyster mushrooms can be fermented, pasteurized, or steamed under high temperature and high pressure; while cultivated enoki mushrooms cannot be fermented and can only be steamed under high temperature and high pressure, otherwise they will not "germinate" at all and even the strains will not germinate! Of course, the low-priced, low-quality, low-nutrition cotton husks mentioned in this entry are suitable for cultivating wood-rotting fungi, such as shiitake mushrooms, fungus, ganoderma, etc. Please refer to Baidu Cottonseed Husk