Holding on to First
December 22, 2009 The FiberMax and Stoneville brands from Bayer CropScience made it the nation’s number one seller of cotton seed in 2007, and Bayer has held onto that position since.
In 2009, four FiberMax varieties were the most popular in Texas, which has over half the cotton acreage in the U.S.: FM 9058F, FM 9063B2F, FM 9180B2F and FM 958.
In national market share, FM 9058F trails only Deltapine’s DP 555 BG/RR. Since 555 is no longer commercially available, 9058 is the safest bet to become the nation’s most widely planted variety next year.
Historically, Stoneville has been a market leader in the Mid-South and has the region’s top three Bollgard II/Roundup Ready Flex varieties: ST 4554B2RF, ST 5458B2RF and ST 4498B2RF.
“9058 is the only variety we have on the market that is a single-gene variety. It has Roundup Ready Flex only, so it is a very focused variety,” says Jeff Brehmer, Bayer U.S. marketing manager FiberMax & Stoneville cotton. “It has been a consistent, reliable variety.”
FM 9063B2F and FM 9180B2F are both Bollgard II/Roundup Ready Flex varieties that are very close in maturity.
“9063 is showing that it fits both irrigated and dryland and has some of the finest quality you are going to find,” says Brehmer. 9180 is earlier in maturity and has a more compact plant.
Bayer released three new Bollgard II/Roundup Ready Flex varieties in 2009 under both the FiberMax and Stoneville brands: ST 4288B2F, ST 5288B2F and FM 9160B2F. A fourth release for 2009 was FM 1845LLB2 — a LibertyLink/Bollgard II variety.
And Bayer is evaluating four Bollgard II/Roundup Ready Flex varieties for release in 2010. An announcement concerning them will be made after December 15
But with the potential shown by FM 9160B2F and 9170B2F, Brehmer says, “We’re challenged to find a better FiberMax B2F for the Southwest.”
Pending regulatory approval, two GlyTol varieties — FM 9101GT and 9103GT — will be available in 2010.
Bayer offers two unique traits that will be making their way into more and more of the company’s varieties:
• GlyTol is a proprietary glyphosate-tolerant trait that is similar to Roundup Ready Flex, but utilizes a different gene and promoter.
• The LibertyLink trait provides a genetically based tolerance to the non-selective contact herbicide Ignite, Where resistance to glyphosate is a problem, Bayer offers the LibertyLink trait in some of its FiberMax varieties,
“We’re looking at four Liberty Link/Bollgard II varieties that fit the eastern part of the U.S. to address the glyphosate resistance problems.”
FM 1740B2F has been available in limited quantities and is showing excellent yield potential. An early variety, Brehmer says there have been reports of yields of 2,450 pounds per acre in Oklahoma, 2,000 pounds in the Rio Grande Valley and 1,650 pounds in south Georgia.
“2010 will be the third year we’ve had it,” he says. “We knew it was broadly adapted, but we wanted to make sure that the consistency of a FiberMax variety east of Texas was there and we’re seeing the consistency.”
A Stoneville variety that is also showing broad adaptability is ST 5458B2RF. “We’ve had it primarily for the east, but it’s doing well in the west,” says Brehmer. “The key thing is that it has root-knot nematode tolerance. That will set it apart.”
For more information, see: www.cottonexperts.com
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Pigweed sprayed overhead with Ignite in a field of LibertyLink cotton.
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