Monsanto's new cotton offers extended weed control

Monsanto unveiled the future name of its triple-mode-of-action for herbicide tolerance cotton product – Bollgard II XtendFlex. Bollgard II XtendFlex is the latest addition to the Roundup Ready Xtend Crop System, which is designed to provide farmers with more consistent, flexible control of weeds – especially tough-to-manage and glyphosate-resistant weeds – to help maximize crop yield potential.

Pending regulatory approval, this advanced system is expected to be available to U.S. cotton farmers for the 2015 growing season. Monsanto expects to offer the trait in its Deltapine brand seed and to select licensees.

Bollgard II XtendFlex will offer farmers the first-ever triple stack of herbicide-tolerant technologies in cotton, containing glyphosate-tolerant Genuity Roundup Ready Flex stacked with dicamba- and glufosinate-tolerance. This gives farmers more choice and flexibility of pre- and post-emergence herbicide selection. The triple-stack trait is expected to be available with Genuity Bollgard II to help deliver proven insect protection in addition to effective weed control.

“Bollgard II XtendFlex is built on existing technologies that farmers have grown to trust,” said Jordan Iverson, Monsanto’s cotton traits marketing manager. “Genuity Bollgard II provides the highest level of proven boll damage reduction, and 10 of the top 10 cotton varieties planted in the United States feature Genuity Roundup Ready Flex technology, according to U.S.D.A.’s 2012 data. By adding dicamba and glufosinate tolerance to an already-proven trait package, Monsanto provides farmers with an incredibly effective tool to manage resistant weeds.”

Last March, Monsanto announced the first three components of the Roundup Ready Xtend Crop System: Roundup Ready 2 Xtend, Monsanto’s Genuity® soybean product that contains tolerance to dicamba and glyphosate; an enhanced dicamba and glyphosate herbicide premix, to be branded as Roundup Xtend; and a stand-alone low-volatility dicamba formulation, to be branded as XtendiMax. All of these products are pending regulatory approval.

The Roundup Ready Xtend Crop System will be an integral component of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready PLUS Weed Management Solutions for soybean and cotton. Roundup Ready PLUS offers weed management recommendations that are developed in conjunction with leading academics, agronomists and other industry partners for control of tough weeds. The recommendations focus on multiple modes of action, including the use of pre-emergence applied residual herbicides in combinations with Roundup WeatherMAX or Roundup PowerMAX. Roundup Ready PLUS also offers financial incentives to help farmers offset the cost of using qualifying residual herbicides.