# Americot Raises the Bar with 2026 NexGen Introductions Author: Beck Barnes Published: 2026-11-09 Canonical URL: https://www.cottongrower.com/crop-inputs/seed-traits/americot-raises-the-bar-with-2026-nexgen-introductions/ --- American cotton producers got familiar with the term “heat dome” in 2026, as wide swaths of the Cotton Belt came under extreme heat stress for weeks on end. Luckily for those who planted Americot’s NexGen brand varieties, the seed brand had been crossbreeding for just this scenario for years in advance. “About 10 years ago we started breeding varieties to handle stress for the entire Cotton Belt, and heat tolerance was at the forefront for that,” says Rober Lemon, product development manager at Americot NexGen. A seasoned seed industry veteran, Lemon says he and Americot have been very intentional in their breeding program. “I’m a Texas guy, and stress is what we’ve had to live by. If you can’t handle stress, you’ve not going to perform very well,” Lemon says. Heat tolerance is “one of the great characteristics” of NexGen’s two most popular variety introductions from 2026 — NG 4626 B3XF and NG 4611 B3XF. Lemon says those two varieties made believers out of cotton producers across the Belt this season. NG 4626 B3XF was bred for the Mid-South and Mid-Atlantic, according to Lemon, but its stellar performance has been a pleasant surprise in Central and South Texas as well. This medium-maturity variety features exceptional yield potential and medium to tall plant stature, according to Americot. “It’s going to be a huge player for Americot NexGen moving forward,” says Lemon. “I’m looking for huge things in 2027 with this variety. It’s very good.” Similarly, NG 4611 B3XF was designed for the lower Southeast, and proved itself by coming in at “number one” across OVT trials in Georgia in 2025, according to Lemon. Americot reps and producers in Georgia and South Carolina say NG 4611 B3XF is performing “exactly what they thought it would” in 2026 as well. “Between NG 4611 and NG 4626, we see great things moving forward into 2027 with much greater supply positions for both varieties,” says Lemon. Americot’s traditional “flagship” varieties such as NG 3195 B3XF and NG 4190 B3XF, both had very strong showings in 2026, according to Lemon. But the seed brand is looking to advance even higher-performing offerings in the coming season. NexGen made a commitment years ago to bring along crucial native traits in standard in nearly all of their variety offerings – specifically with bacterial blight resistance, rootknot nematode resistance and some degree of verticillium wilt tolerance. “We’re proud that everything that we’re going to release in 2027, maybe with the exception of one variety, are all bacterial blight resistant and all rootknot nematode resistant. That’s a big deal,” Lemon says. One of those 2027 variety introductions will be NG 3721 B3XF, another Mid-South and Mid-Atlantic adaptation which is very similar to NG 4626 B3XF, but with a slightly faster maturity level. Lemon also mentioned NG 5717 B3XF as a high yielding mid- to full-season variety with rootknot nematode resistance and verticillium wilt tolerance. It will fit best on the High and Rolling Plains, he says. 2027 will also see Americot release its first varieties in the Widestrike Enlist trait technology package — AM 773 W3FE is an early- to mid-maturing variety and AM 870 W3FE will be a mid-maturity option.