Postharvest trash contamination, such as honeydew deposited by certain insects, reduces the market value of cotton fibre. Sticky fibre may clog spinning mills, resulting in breakdowns, production losses and poor quality end products. It is essential for both producers and spinners to be able to accurately-measure cotton stickiness so as to optimize the bale binding process. CIRAD thus invented two stickiness measuring instruments-the SCT thermodetector and the high-speed H2SD detector.