Cotton seeds

cottonseed, seed of the cotton plant, important commercially for its oil and other products. Cottonseed oil is used in salad and cooking oils and, after hydrogenation, in shortenings and margarine. The cake, or meal, remaining after the oil is extracted is used in poultry and livestock feeds. Linters, the short cellulose fibres left on the seed after the staple cotton is removed by ginning, are used to make coarse yarns and many cellulose products. The hulls, or outer seed coverings, are used in ruminant animal feed as roughage.