Whether it’s the unpredictable heat and late-season storms in the Texas Coastal Bend or the tough full season in Georgia, cotton growers face unique regional challenges each year. Bayer CropScience announces four new FiberMax® and Stoneville® cotton varieties for the 2015 season that are bred to help growers overcome major challenges indigenous to their region.
All four new varieties come stacked with GlyTol® LibertyLink® TwinLink® technology to help growers fight two of the problems found in every region of the Cotton Belt: weeds and worm pests. GlyTol LibertyLink technology providesgrowers full tolerance to over-the-top application of Liberty® herbicide and glyphosate to manage tough-to-control weeds. TwinLink provides two Bt genes for season-long protection against lepidopteran pests, such as cotton bollworm.
Jeff Brehmer, U.S. product manager for FiberMax and Stoneville, said Bayer CropScience begins variety development by asking what challenges growers face that the company can address with its cottonseed varieties. Researchers, breeders and agronomists then work together to develop varieties that help growers improve fiber quality, achieve higher yields and increase profits.
“We’re excited to announce these new FiberMax and Stoneville varieties for 2015, because they expand our current variety portfolio and help address challenges to cotton production that growers face on their farms,” Brehmer said. “U.S. cotton growers know how to produce a crop in challenging, adverse conditions, and we want to offer them new tools to help maximize their profit potential.”
New FiberMax varieties available for 2015 include:
FM 1900GLT offers the newest FiberMax germplasm for the High Plains and Rolling Plains of the Southwest for growers who look for excellent storm tolerance, high yields and great fiber quality. FM 1900GLT has a slightly earlier maturity than FM 2484B2F with improved micronaire and similar One Ton Club™ yield potential. It is a GlyTol LibertyLink TwinLink variety with full tolerance to Liberty herbicide and glyphosate, plus broad-spectrum lepidopteran insect protection with two Bt genes.
FM 2007GLT is a new variety bred specifically for the harsh South Texas growing environment, but it also has shown a wide adaptation for the Rolling Plains. It is an early-medium maturity GlyTol LibertyLink TwinLink variety with excellent water-use efficiency and storm tolerance to help growers overcome challenging weather conditions in the Texas Coastal Bend. It is easy to manage with lower rates of plant growth regulator and offers excellent yields and fiber quality.
New Stoneville varieties available for 2015 include:
ST 5115GLT gives growers from the Mid-South, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast a variety that responds well to irrigation and has a high lint turnout – a perfect combination for top-end yields. It has excellent seedling vigor, providing an edge for a geography that sometimes faces cool, wet springs. ST 5115GLT also offers GlyTol LibertyLink TwinLink technology for full tolerance to Liberty herbicide and glyphosate, plus broad-spectrum lepidopteran insect protection with two Bt genes.
ST 6182GLT is a full-season variety bred for the Southeast, South Delta, Southeastern Texas and Mid-Atlantic regions with the ability to fight through long, unpredictable growing seasons and deliver high lint turnout. ST 6182GLT is well adapted for dryland and irrigated acres on light or heavy soils, a benefit for Southeastern growers who often have multiple soil types in one field. It also offers GlyTol LibertyLink TwinLink technology to protect cotton fields against tough-to-control weeds and lepidopteran pests.