PhytoGen Gaining Foothold in West Texas Market
November 12, 2014 From Cotton Grower Magazine – November 2014
In a year that saw PhytoGen introduce a number of new varieties to the Cotton Belt, it was an old standard that once again stole the headlines. For the third year running, PhytoGen’s PHY 499 WRF was the single most planted cotton variety in the United States.
Accounting for 9.3 percent of every Upland cotton acre planted in 2014, PHY 499 WRF continued its run as the most popular variety among America’s cotton producers. PhytoGen representatives say that streak of widespread popularity is no accident.
“PHY 499 WRF is so broadly adapted across the country to fit in many different irrigation regimes and soil types,” says Scott Fuchs, PhytoGen cotton development specialist for Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. “It has very good with stress tolerance and has a very extensive root system that allows it to withstand many of those stresses and still produce. Its storm tolerance is where it needs to be, and it just has outstanding yield potential.”
For several years, PhytoGen has been ramping up its research and development efforts to gain more of the coveted Southwest market share. The company captured nearly 10 percent of all Southwest Upland cotton acres in 2014, up from 6.6 percent the previous year. Fuchs attributes that success partly to the new variety introductions.
“Our pipeline for our West Texas program is robust, and I think that we will continue to see increased variety releases that give us more offerings for growers, so to speak, for that area of the Cotton Belt,” says Fuchs.
One of those offerings in 2014 was PHY 417 WRF, which Fuchs says was originally targeted for the West Texas market. Like all of PhytoGen’s Upland variety names that end in the numeral 7, it features nematode-protection characteristics.
“It’s an early-mid maturing product that has outstanding yield potential, and it is designed to go into root knot nematode fields,” Fuchs says. “So we have taken two native genes, bred those into our germplasm and we are seeing root knot nematode resistance with this product where we are able to reduce test populations by up to 80 or 90 percent.”
Fuchs says PHY 427 WRF is very similar to PHY 417 WRF except that it’s targeted for Mid-South and Southeast acreage.
“We lost Temik a couple years ago, so variety selection is key in terms of our nematode-management options,” Fuchs says.
Other PhytoGen varieties that created excitement in 2014 include PHY 222 WRF, PHY 333 WRF and PHY 339 WRF, according to Fuchs. PHY 222 WRF is the company’s first release from its West Texas breeding program, based in Lubbock. It is a very early-maturing variety with excellent yield potential and storm tolerance that is a perfect fit on the Northern High Plains, according to Fuchs.
PHY 333 WRF and PHY 339 WRF are broadly adapted products that are very similar, with a slight difference in their plant architecture. PHY 339 WRF fruits closer to the main stem, he says, while PHY 333 WRF fruits further away from the stem.
“They both feature outstanding yield potential,” Fuchs says. “They are earlier-maturing with very good fiber properties. We expect big things from both of these products.”
Winning instant fans, PHY 339 WRF was PhytoGen’s third-highest selling variety in 2014. Meanwhile, traditional workhorse PHY 375 WRF was still making waves across the Cotton Belt in 2014, accounting for 2.1 percent of all Upland cotton acres.
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