Pioneer, DuPont discuss five new herbicide options

Within the next couple of years, expect an entirely new line of herbicide options from Pioneer Hi-Bred.

Under the Optimum Brand, Pioneer plans to release Optimum GAT (Glyphosate ALS Tolerance) corn in limited quantities in 2010-11. At last week's field day, product development manager Dave Saunders expects the big rollout will come in 2012. Optimum GAT soybeans should be commercially available in 2011.

The interesting thing about Optimum GAT is the amount of herbicide options, which are being developed by Pioneer's parent company, DuPont. For pre-emergence control, farmers can choose from Instigate and Diligent. For post-emergence, Trigate is the way to go. Plus, Saunders says two additional herbicides, Freestyle and Traverse, provide flexible use, from pre-plant burndown to post-emergence control.

Of course, the selling point behind these options is the ability to control glyphosate-resistant weeds. "Glyphosate used to be looked at as the one-size-fits-all herbicide," Saunders adds. "It's still very useful, but it doesn't meet everyone's needs."

According to research conducted by the University of Illinois' Aaron Hager, DuPont's Instigate and Dilligent can help control glyphosate-resistant weeds significantly. In trials, Traverse (pre) coupled with glyphosate (post) controlled 30% of glyphosate-resistant waterhemp. Glyphosate only controlled 22%. A combination of Instigate (pre) and glyphosate (post) controlled 96%. Diligent (pre) and glyphosate (post) controlled 98%.

Saunders says Pioneer and DuPont will coordinate the release of Optimum GAT seed and the new herbicides to provide farmers with both options at the same time.