USA - InVigor improving product supply, hybrids for 2023

On a sunny summer day near Berthold, N.D, blazing yellow InVigor canola hybrid plots seemed even brighter as more than 95 producers and others participated in a western North Dakota showcase in July.

″We had a nice turnout to see our InVigor canola hybrid field day. It wasn’t just canola – we had soybeans there and demonstrated some crop protection products, as well,″ said Matt Smith, seed advisor for BASF.

Matt Smith, seed advisor for BASF, talks to producers about InVigor canola hybrids this summer.

The Berthold showcase highlighted new InVigor canola hybrids for 2023, new and existing BASF distributed Xitavo soybean varieties, crop protection solutions and a discussion with the BASF breeding team.

Smith said they also talked about improving the pairing of the brands and product supply issues.

″One of the big concerns out there is the supply of products, mainly Liberty. The supply was pretty tight this year, but the overall production is going to up for next year,″ Smith said. ″We made some pretty big improvements to the supply process on our seed brands, our InVigor canola and Xitavo soybean brands.″

In addition, Rick Johnson, BASF breeding agronomist, discussed some new innovations coming in the future with the InVigor brand.

Johnson explained how the InVigor brand pushes for higher yields with its hybrids every year.

At the showcase, Smith introduced the InVigor canola hybrids in the field plots, both current and 2023 hybrids. All were looking ″pretty good″ in the plots, he said.

Smith noted that all InVigor canola hybrids currently come with InVigor’s pod-shatter technology, a trait that reduces the amount of shatter in the pods during harvest.

″It is a great technology, and it is changing the game as far as growing canola is concerned,″ he said.

Depending on the harvest conditions, growers can run into pod shattering every year, so having the technology in the InVigor canola hybrid makes a huge difference, Smith added.

In the field plots, the maturities for the InVigor canola hybrids ranged from 3-5, with 3 being early.

″Most of 3 and 4 maturities would be grown in the western regions, such as in Williams County, while you would see more 5 maturities grown in the northeastern regions, like Cavalier County,″ Smith said.

The following is a rundown of BASF’s InVigor canola hybrids:

L350PC

InVigor’s L350PC, new for 2023, will be the ″all-around 5 maturity hybrid.″ It is part of the 300 series, as noted by the first number, 3. The middle number is for maturity.

″The middle number in those hybrids, which is 5 for 350, indicates the later the hybrids will mature. We think the 350 will take the spot of all the 5 maturities we have now. So, they are a little later, but they look good here in the plots, too,″ Smith explained.

L350PC is blackleg-resistant, and has first-generation clubroot resistance.

LR354 PC

″The LR354 PC for 2023 is the new herbicide stack hybrid with Roundup Ready technology and LibertyLink,″ Smith said. ″It offers growers high standability and high yields.″

If the hybrid is prefaced with LR, that is a stack Liberty and (Roundup) True Flex.

″True Flex is a higher rate of Roundup and a wider application. You can plant all the way to flowering,″ Smith said.

LR344PC

According to Smith, InVigor canola LR344PC looks good for 2023.

InVigor LR344PC is good-yielding and also has multiple built-in herbicide trait technologies for hard-to-control weeds in one application.

″Growers have the flexibility to apply either Liberty herbicide or Roundup WeatherMAX herbicide, or use both in one tank mix,″ he said.

LR340PC

″Out West, LR344PC is in play, but for an all-around hybrid, LR340PC has been taking the place of LR233P,″ Smith said.

He also pointed out that LR340PC will be their ″most versatile hybrid,″ meaning farmers can grow it anywhere.

″Western growers have a tendency to lean toward that one pretty hard,″ he said. ″LR340PC is mid-maturity, high-yielding and can handle a lot of different situations pretty well.″

Seed treatments

This year, Lumiderm, an insecticide seed treatment which is for enhanced flea beetle control, along with cutworms, was offered to growers.

″We are going to offer that again next year as an option, and we’ll also have another seed treatment as an option called BUTEO start,″ Smith said.

BUTEO start protects against early flea beetle pressure, and also supports good plant resilience in its early growing stages.

Under ideal conditions, growers will get protection from three weeks to a month, according to Smith.

″Flea beetles were really bad in North Dakota this year,″ he said. ″I have been covering my territory in northwestern North Dakota for 10-11 years, and this year was the worst year for flea beetles that I have seen.″

While seed treatments are ″not a silver bullet,″ Smith says they’re definitely an improvement from the base seed treatment. He also pointed out that growers may still need to spray for flea beetles.

″Growers still might have to spray, but potentially, they will need to spray less, and the canola kind of handles the flea beetles better (when there is a seed treatment on the seed) from my observations,″ he said.

BASF representatives also talked about a new fungicide for Fusarium head blight (FHB) called Sphaerex at the field tour. Sphaerex controls FHB and also reduces DON (vomitoxin) levels.

″We have been getting Sphaerex out there this year because the Fusarium pressure in wheat and barley has been high,″ he said. ″We got a good look at Sphaerex this year, but going forward, it is going to be a nice option for growers on the crop protection side of things.″

For application, Smith said it is a one-time application at that early flowering window.

For soybeans, BASF had its Xitavo soybean varieties growing in the field plots near Berthold. In the plots were all .01-.05 maturities. Xitavo soybeans have 10 new soybean varieties for the 2023 planting season, so check with your BASF representative.

″Xitavo is our license brand from MS Technologies,″ he said. ″With these soybeans, and any soybeans, it is still important to have moisture in August to do well. Moisture definitely helps.″

With the range of maturities, there are differences with each soybean variety.