With the objective of efficient and productive cultivation of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), the effects
of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) treatment on delinting efficiency,germination, and seedling vigor were studied at the Gondar Seed Laboratory, Ethiopia. A completely randomized design consisting of 21 treatments with 4 replications were used. Fuzzy cotton seeds,1 kg of variety Deltapine-90 for each treatment, were delinted by 5 different volumes of 98% concentrated sulfuric acid (i.e., 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180mL/kg of seeds) by mixing thoroughly with a wooden stick and incubated for 4 different delinting durations
i.e., 4, 8, 12 and 16 min, respectively with fuzzy cotton seedsn serving as control (untreated). The results revealed that
both the amount of sulfuric acid and delinting duration had significant effect on lint-removing efficiency, germination percentage, mean germination time, germination speed and seedling vigor which increased with the increase in acid volume and incubation period up to a certain level and then declined thereafter. The use of 180mL H2SO4 for 16min incubation period resulted in 100% delinting efficiency,though it was at par with those obtained at 8 min (99.39%) and 12 min (99.98%). However, fuzzy seeds treated by 150 mL of sulfuric acid for 12min resulted in the maximum germination (94%), normal seedling emergence (88.7%),maximum seedling dry weight (0.502 g), and maximum lengths of root (9.2 cm) and shoot (9.6 cm). It was concluded that the removal of lint from fuzzy seeds by 150 mL of sulfuric acid incubated for12 min was best which would enable free-flow of seeds during sowing, enhance germination taking only 5 days to germinate with 19.3% germination rate being at par with other only slightly
higher values as compared to 9 days with 8.7% germination rate by fuzzy seeds (control). This treatment also enhanced seedling vigor index-1 (SVI-1) to a value of 1673 and that of SVI-2 to 44 as compared to the values of only 668 and 21 for SVI- 1 and SVI-2, respectively of planting cotton seeds which would enhance the productivity of cotton crop in Ethiopia.