Cotton growers looking to ease pest and disease pressure, as well as increase yield potential, have four new additional options from Bayer for 2017. Bayer recently added two FiberMax varieties and two Stoneville varieties to its high-quality, high-yielding lineup of cottonseed.
“Our breeding focus is on providing the science growers need to complement their exemplary management skills; it’s a collaboration that growers can rely on to enhance their profit under today’s pest pressures,” says Jason Wistehuff, Bayer Product Manager for FiberMax and Stoneville cotton, in a recent release. “These new varieties are tangible examples of Bayer’s continuing commitment to cotton.”
In addition to high yield, these new varieties score high marks for the primary characteristics and traits that are important to growers this year, such as bacterial blight resistance and worm-resistance traits.
“Increased pressure from bacterial blight and lepidopteran pests escalates the need for disease-resistant varieties and worm-resistant traits,” Wistehuff says. “The tried-but-true saying that our best defense is a good offense is particularly relevant for growers who need to manage for bacterial blight and to reduce treatment application in fields under worm pressure.”
Three of the varieties released this year also are armed with either the TwinLink or TwinLink Plus trait, both of which provide season-long Bt protection from a broad spectrum of major lepidopteran pests, including tobacco budworm, pink bollworm, cotton bollworm, and beet armyworm. TwinLink Plus is a three-gene trait; TwinLink is a two-gene trait. The enhanced activity of TwinLink Plus against bollworm and armyworm decreases the likelihood of needing supplemental applications to control worm pests when compared to all two-gene traits.
Each of the new varieties from FiberMax and Stoneville is also equipped with exclusive Bayer herbicide-tolerant traits: GlyTol and LibertyLink.
GlyTol provides the flexibility of over-the-top glyphosate herbicide treatment and delivers proven crop safety to various glyphosate formulations with no impact on yield, quality or plant height. LibertyLink arms growers with the ability to apply Liberty herbicide in-season. Liberty is a broad-spectrum herbicide and a powerful tool against glyphosate-resistant weeds, including Palmer amaranth, marestail, and water hemp.
In addition to the four new varieties for 2017, FiberMax and Stoneville will continue to offer other varieties that also offer high yield, premium quality, herbicide tolerance, and disease and insect resistance growers need to choose the right seed for the right field.
