Bayer introduces two new Stoneville cotton varieties

With weed resistance exploding across America’s farmland, Bayer CropScience introduces two new Stoneville® cotton varieties for 2013 that give cotton growers more tools to fight weed resistance and rotate herbicide chemistries on their farms.

ST 4946GLB2 and ST 6448GLB2 are the first Stoneville varieties to offer multiple herbicide tolerance with GlyTol® and LibertyLink® traits for full crop safety to glyphosate and Liberty® herbicides when used as directed. These varieties also have a two-gene Bt trait to protect against yield-robbing lepidopteran pests.

"These new Stoneville varieties give cotton growers the flexibility to spray Liberty and glyphosate herbicides and develop the best herbicide program for their fields and operation,” said Jeff Brehmer, U.S. product manager for FiberMax® and Stoneville. "Growers can use full label rates of Liberty or glyphosate herbicides on tough-to-control weeds without damage to the crop.”

ST 4946GLB2 is an early-medium maturing GlyTol LibertyLink Bollgard II® variety with exceptional yield potential. It provides herbicide flexibility and crop safety to full labeled rates of Liberty and glyphosate. It offers root-knot nematode tolerance and is an excellent choice for fields with known presence of this pest. ST 4946GLB2 is easy to manage with moderately aggressive growth habits and is broadly adapted across all cotton-growing regions.

ST 6448GLB2 is a full season maturity, GlyTol LibertyLink Bollgard II variety that provides crop safety to full labeled rates of Liberty and glyphosate. It is well adapted for the South Delta and Southeast cotton-growing areas. It has excellent seedling vigor, which results in consistent stand establishment. ST 6448GLB2 has outstanding yield potential as well as very good fiber quality, and is well suited for both irrigated and dryland production.

"Both ST 4946GLB2 and ST 6448GLB2 are ideal varieties for those operations with glyphosate-resistant weed issues, but these varieties are not only for the glyphosate-resistant acre,” Brehmer noted. “These new varieties have excellent yield potential and a strong fiber package. Our objective is to bring to market varieties that exceed the yield potential of our current varieties, so these new varieties have the most advanced trait technologies in the best germplasm that Stoneville has to offer.”

ST 4946GLB2 and ST 6448GLB2 have been tested extensively in large and small plots across the Cotton Belt through the Bayer CropScience Cotton Agronomic Performance (CAP) trials. These trials, which are managed by growers using their local management practices, provide real-world yield and quality information and help identify the best new varieties for the cottonseed market.

Two years ago, Bayer offered its GlyTol LibertyLink stacked herbicide technology with a two-gene Bt trait in FM 2989GLB2, a FiberMax variety for the Texas High Plains. Last year, FM 1944GLB2 brought this stacked herbicide trait package to growers across the Cotton Belt in a FiberMax variety. Growers have seen extraordinary yields and excellent herbicide tolerance with these varieties.

"With the tremendous success of these two FiberMax varieties, we wanted to provide this same high-performing technology in our Stoneville brand for growers across the U.S. Cotton Belt,” Brehmer said.