Twelve new commercial cotton varieties will be available for cotton producers in 2023. It’s a diverse showcase featuring increased yield potential, higher quality and new technology.

Armor Seed

Armor Seed added Armor 9413 XF. This early to medium-maturing variety is well-adapted to maintain higher yield potential in various field environments, including irrigated acres and Texas dryland.

Armor 9413 XF comes with the XtendFlex trait package, resistance to bacterial blight, and moderate tolerance to Verticillium Wilt. Larger seed provides dependable seedling emergence, and plants have good storm-tolerance ratings.

Regan Ware from Cone, Texas, has grown cotton plots for Armor Seed for the past six years.

“I really liked the way Armor 9413 XF came out of the ground with vigor, and it did well during the drought we had in 2022. This variety also harvested clean, and the stormproof was excellent,” Ware said.

Americot

In 2023, Americot will fully launch NG 3299 B3XF. This Bollgard 3 XtendFlex variety is early to mid-maturing, resistant to bacterial blight with high turnout and excellent fiber quality.

Chase Samples, market development specialist, said the NG 3299 B3XF fits well in northeast Arkansas, the bootheel of Missouri, and the Mississippi Delta.

Americot added three new varieties containing Bollgard 3 ThryvOn XtendFlex. These include NG 3327 B3TXF, NG 4343 B3TXF, and NG 4335 B3TXF.

NG 3327 B3TXF is early to mid-maturing with excellent seedling vigor, aggressive growth habit and a good fiber package. Samples said the new variety will fit the early maturing market, and he commented on its success in both dryland and irrigated environments across the Cotton Belt.

For higher production, NG 4343 B3TXF features good vigor, desirable turnout, and excellent yield for producers aiming for three-bales-plus. It is a short-statured plant, easily managed from a plant growth regulator standpoint. Due to its growth habit, NG 4343 B3TXF is targeted at irrigated acres.

NG 4335 B3TXF is an early to mid-maturing variety with excellent vigor, good turnout, and a superb fiber package. The variety is recognized consistently at the top of internal breeding trials across the Midsouth and Southeast for the past two years, Samples said.

Samples added, “Of these ThryvOn varieties, I would say NG 4335 B3TXF will likely have the biggest footprint, coast to coast. It fits a broad range of soil types, and it has the best storm-tolerance of the three.”

Deltapine

In 2023, Deltapine released five new varieties based on its New Product Evaluator testing. The farmer-based program consists of approximately 200 growers throughout the Cotton Belt, providing farm-level data and feedback on Deltapine test varieties for 15 years.

“The ultimate litmus test is getting these growers to tell us what they think is going to work in their operations and why. That in turn leads to the advancement for the next class of products,” said Eric Best, Deltapine cotton product manager.

Three of the new varieties come with the Bollgard 3 XtendFlex trait package and are all show resistant to bacterial blight.

DP 2333 B3XF is a mid-maturing Bollgard 3 XtendFlex variety for producers in the Midsouth, Southeast, and South Texas. It boasts excellent fiber quality and strong yield potential, with some NPE growers hitting record yields on their farms.

DP 2335 B3XF is a mid-maturing Bollgard 3 XtendFlex variety with moderate tolerance to Verticillium wilt. It is marketed to West Texas producers.

For those in the Southeast battling root knot nematode, Deltapine released DP 2349 NR B3XF. This Bollgard 3 XtendFlex variety is mid-to-full maturing with resistance to RKN.

Two new varieties contain the Bollgard 3 ThryvOn XtendFlex technology, offering built-in broad spectrum insect control targeted at thrips species and plant bugs.

DP 2328 B3TXF is a mid-maturing Bollgard 3 Thryvon XtendFlex variety with moderate bacterial blight resistance. It is fitting for producers in the Midsouth, Southeast, Upper Gulf Coast, and Brazos Bottom Regions of Texas.

For Midsouth and Texas markets, DP 2317 B3TXF is an early-maturing Bollgard 3 ThryvOn Xtend Flex variety, boasting strong fiber quality potential and resistance to bacterial blight.

PhytoGen

PhytoGen cottonseed released two varieties for the 2023 season, PHY 415 W3FE and PHY 861 RF.

The upland PHY 415 W3FE won big in university trails against competitive varieties, said Joel Faircloth, U.S. cotton portfolio manager.

“Compared with PHY 400 W3FE, PHY 415 W3FE is taller, with a more aggressive growth habit — very similar to PHY 411 W3FE, but with improved fiber quality potential,” he said.

The broadly adapted, mid-maturing PHY 415 W3FE is resistant to RKN and bacterial blight with moderate PGR requirements. Like other PhytoGen W3FE varieties, PHY 415 W3FE comes with all the benefits of the Enlist weed control system along with WideStrike 3 insect protection.

For the Pima market, the company introduced PHY 861 RF, boasting improved yield and fiber quality potential. It features Roundup Ready Flex for weed control and has excellent tolerance to Fusarium Race 4. Like other PhytoGen Pima varieties, PHY 861 RF is bred to meet the needs of Pima cotton producers in California and Arizona with extra-long staple desired by the Pima supply chain.

BASF

BASF didn’t release any new varieties for 2023, but Kenny Melton, western manager for agronomic services with BASF, said new technology is expected to be released pending regulatory approval for Axant Flex cottonseed varieties and the Alite 27 herbicide trait technology.

“Alite 27 is anticipated to be labeled sometime in 2023, pending EPA regulatory approval. Axant Flex cottonseed trait is approved in the U.S., but waiting on export approval in other countries, and depends on regulatory approval outside the U.S.,” he said.