Mycogen Seeds to offer PowerCore™ Corn in 2015

Mycogen Seeds will feature PowerCore™, a new trait technology, in its corn hybrid lineup for the 2015 growing season. PowerCore combines three modes of action for industry-leading protection against above-ground insects. The new trait combination effectively controls European corn borer, southwestern corn borer, corn earworm, fall armyworm and black cutworm.
 
“PowerCore will be an effective and sustainable option for growers who need broad-spectrum control of only above-ground pests,” says Hank King, corn marketing leader for Mycogen Seeds. In the first year, PowerCore will be available to Mycogen Seeds customers in the central and southern Corn Belt, with expansion to other geographies in future seasons.
 
Three Bt proteins in PowerCore — Cry1A105, Cry2Ab2 and Cry1F — offer the broadest-spectrum above-ground insect control on the market. Multiple modes of action mean that PowerCore™ will require only a 5 percent refuge in the Corn Belt. Mycogen Seeds also plans to offer PowerCore technology in its Refuge Advanced® single-bag packaging solution that contains the required refuge seed for the Corn Belt in the same bag.
 
PowerCore Refuge Advanced will complement the Mycogen® brand corn hybrid lineup, which already includes SmartStax® Refuge Advanced hybrids for both above- and below-ground insect protection in a single-bag solution. These Mycogen brand technologies will continue to be offered in elite corn genetics.
 
“The launch of PowerCore shows our commitment to deliver new technologies to the market and give our growers more options to maximize the potential of their acres,” King says.
 
PowerCore received registration from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in November.