Jiyuan Liu
Shandong Agricultural Machinery Research Institute

Cotton is one of the important economic crops in China and it plays an important role in China’s economic. China is a great cotton planting country. The planting area is 80 million mu which account for 24% of the world’s output. China’s cotton production way is backward with small scale, various cotton variety and cultivation mode and low mechanization level.
In the 1850 s, the United States invented the first generation cotton picker. After more than 100 years development, cotton picker is widely used in the United States, Australia, Uzbekistan and other countries. At present, the commonly used cotton picker mainly include horizontal spindle-type cotton pickers produced by John Deere and Case II in USA and vertical spindle-type cotton pickers produced by Uzbekistan. Guizhou Pingshui machinery factory of China also launched 4MZ-3 and 4MZ-5 horizontal spindle-type cotton picker.
With the transfer of rural labor force, labor costs are getting higher and higher which brings great threaten to the safety of cotton industry. This article discusses the necessity of implementing mechanization of cotton harvest and introduces the development course and working principle of cotton picker using horizontal spindle-type cotton picker produced in China as an example. Huang-huai-hai area is the basis of commodity cotton in China. Yellow river delta is the largest concentrated cotton planting area. However, the proportion of mechanical harvested cotton is very low. Aiming at the characteristics of Yellow river delta’s cotton, this article analysis the requirements of cotton variety, cultivation demands and machinery for mechanical harvest and gives his suggestion.