Bayer CropScience Announces 2009 Cotton Varieties

After hundreds of replicated trials and several years of hard work, Bayer CropScience has announced that four experimental cotton varieties have performed consistently and notably enough to join the ranks of FiberMax® and Stoneville® cotton. Jeff Brehmer, U.S. marketing manager, Stoneville and FiberMax cotton, said these new varieties will raise the bar for yield and quality potential. The four varieties ― FM 9160B2F, FM 1845LLB2, ST 4288B2F and ST 5288B2F ― all feature broad adaptability, high-yield potential and excellent fiber packages, Brehmer said.

FM 9160B2F is a medium-maturity Bollgard II®/Roundup Ready® Flex variety with a moderate growth habit. It is adapted to the Southwest region with excellent storm resistance and early indications of good Verticillium wilt tolerance. FM 9160B2F also exhibited a yield advantage in multiple trials over standards such as FM 9063B2F and FM 9180B2F.

FM 1845LLB2 is an easy-to-manage, medium-maturity variety with broad adaptation across the Mid-South, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic production regions. Brehmer said FM 1845LLB2 consistently out-yielded FM 1735LLB2 by more than 100 lbs/A in trials, and said it will bring the trademark FiberMax quality to Southeast cotton growers. The LibertyLink® trait allows growers to spray Ignite® herbicide over-the-top to control more than 120 species of broadleaf weeds and grasses, including glyphostate-resistant pigweed and marestail.

ST 4288B2F is an early-to-midmaturing variety well-adapted across the Mid-South, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic in both irrigated and dryland conditions. Although it matures relatively earlier than Stoneville varieties such as ST 4554B2F, it has often out-yielded this variety in company trials. ST 4288B2F has a good fiber package with premium-grade length, strength and uniformity possible.

ST 5288B2F is a medium-maturing variety that fits well in the Mid-South, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic production regions. It has the excellent seedling vigor growers have come to expect from Stoneville, and it sets a high level of fruiting nodes. Careful in-season management plus an aggressive, timely defoliation program will reward growers with maximum yield and fiber quality potential.

For more information on the complete 2009 lineup of FiberMax and Stoneville varieties, contact your local Bayer CropScience field representative or visit www.CottonExperts.com.