The pima seeds look very much like soybeans. The lint acts to slow down the passage of the seed through the cow's digestive tract and helps to ensure complete digestion. As the pima seeds are nearly lint free, they are not as completely digested by the cow as are the upland varieties. To increase the availability of the nutrients in the pima seeds, they are usually cracked or processed in some way. When processed, the pima seeds are essentially comparable to upland se eds in nutrient value and significantly fewer undigested seed are excreted in the feces.
All cotton seeds contain gossypol.
Gossypol is a yellow pigment found in the glands of the cotton seeds. The gossypol functions to protect the cotton plant from insects. In the seeds, almost all the gossypol is found in the free form. Heat and moisture processing converts the free form into the less toxic, bound form. Most cotton seeds are feed in the whole or unprocessed form in California due to the lack of processing facilities.