Seed Company Review: Breeding Varieties with Resistance Traits a PhytoGen Priority

PhytoGen has placed an emphasis on its breeding traits program combined with high-yielding varieties. The company has developed varieties with those traits with maturities that fit across the Cotton Belt.

Joel Faircloth, PhytoGen U.S. Cotton Portfolio Manager, says the company’s breeding team evaluates thousands of potential varieties before advancing one to the marketplace.

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“I don’t know how they do it,” Faircloth says. “To get our breeding traits into a variety and also get those high yields, the breeders have to screen so much more germplasm.”

That work has resulted in all PhytoGen cottonseed coming with bacterial blight resistance in their Enlist weed control system varieties. In addition, more and more varieties are adding root-knot nematode (RKN) resistance. And, in 2021, two new varieties will be introduced with reniform nematode resistance.

“These will be the first upland cotton varieties on the market to provide reniform resistance,” Faircloth says. “What is even more exciting about these two products is they perform really well whether reniform nematodes are in the soil or not. They are high yielding.”

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Faircloth adds that all PhytoGen varieties continue to offer excellent seedling vigor and fiber quality. “We hear frequently from growers about the vigor of our varieties,” he says.

Faircloth adds that a number of newer introductions have performed well this season. PHY 400 W3FE was introduced in 2019 and has proven to be widely adaptable across the Cotton Belt.

“It is a mid-maturity product that is very manageable and responds well to PGRs,” he says. “It performed very well in official variety trials (OVTs) across the U.S., but particularly well in the Delta and in south and central Texas. It has RKN resistance and does well in a variety conditions, even under stress.”

PHY 350 W3FE is another broadly adapted product, but a little earlier in maturity than PHY 400 W3FE. “It is grown throughout the U.S., but its primary market is the southwest plains of Texas and the Mid-Atlantic,” says Faircloth. “It performs well in irrigated and dryland situations. It, too, offers RKN resistance.”

PHY 390 W3FE is another newer early-mid variety with excellent fiber quality and RKN resistance. Faircloth says it is a variety with a medium-tall growth habit. It pairs well with PHY 400 W3FE and fits in conditions were a slightly more aggressive plant is needed.

“It is very broadly adapted,” he says. “It won the OVTs in Mississippi in 2019. PHY 400 W3FE won a lot in trials as well, so they are going to be excellent companions.”

Some early and full season varieties will be available in larger supply in 2021 that Faircloth says growers should be aware of. RKN resistance will be introduced in two southwestern plain varieties and two in the southern Cotton Belt.

PHY 210 W3FE and PHY 250 PHY W3FE will be the early season offerings. PHY 500 W3FE and PHY 580 W3FE will be the southern products.

“PhytoGen has some of the earliest season varieties on the market,” Faircloth says. “The full-season PHY 580 W3FE is going to fit the cotton/peanut rotation well in Georgia. PHY 500 W3FE is going to fit South Georgia but will carry all the way up into North Carolina. It is exciting that we can provide growers Enlist technology and PhytoGen Breeding Traits in all maturity classes, so growers across the Belt can choose what works best for their situation.”

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