Seed traits can be a confusing jumble of acronyms: HX, LL, VT DoublePro, VT Triple Pro to name just a few. What do they all mean?

Adam Spelhaug, an agronomist with Peterson Farms Seed, Harwood, N.D., spells out it all in this cheat sheet for seed traits that are currently available for planting in 2015:

HX - Herculex is the trait package from Dow Agrosciences and includes Herculex I (ECB protection), Herculex^® RW (CRW protection), and Herculex^® XTRA (combination of HX I and HX RW). The Herculex traits also have resistance to Liberty^® herbicide as well as coverage of other insects, including western bean cutworm, black cutworm, and fall armyworm.

Soybean seed is packed with traits.

LL - LibertyLink corn hybrids are resistant to Bayer's Liberty herbicide. With their unique, non-selective chemistry, LL hybrids are a good alternative for weeds that are resistant or tolerant of glyphosate. LL soybean varieties have gained a lot of attention in the market recently and are excellent choices for growers with an intensive Glyphosate cropping rotation.

VT Double Pro - This double stack trait product from Monsanto replaces the previous RR/YGCB. The major difference is the ECB trait has two modes of action, allowing for a reduced refuge requirement from 20% down to 5% and the addition of corn earworm control.

VT Triple Pro - This is really the VT2PRO along with below ground resistance to corn rootworm. The refuge is a 10% refuge in the bag blend.

SmartStax - This is the combination product of VT3PRO, Herculex XTRA, RR, and LL. Multiple modes of action for both above ground and below ground insects allows a reduced refuge requirement for SS down to 5%. Most bags already have the refuge component mixed into the bag.

DroughtGard – A mixture of drought tolerant germplasm and biotech traits for drought resistance from Monsanto. This trait is stacked with other herbicide and insecticide traits.

Agrisure 3000GT - This is the trait package from Syngenta that has GT, LL, and ECB resistance. Refuge requirements are 20% with this trait.

Agrisure Viptera - A newer trait that adds a mode of action for corn earworm, cutworm, and fall armyworm. This product needs to be channeled for grain sales because it lacks Chinese approval. Dupont sells Agrisure Viptera as Optimum Leptra.

Agrisure Artesian – a native trait that provides hybrids with better resistance to low water growing situations season long. This is stacked with other Syngenta traits and is designated by an "A" in the brand name.

Optimum AQUAmax – Dupont's drought tolerant trait for corn, using marker-assisted breeding to find natural traits tolerant to low moisture conditions.

The next trait cheat sheet could look very different from this one, with the inclusion of Enlist (2,4-D), Xtend (dicamba) and other herbicide traits. "We hope we will see a limited release of these traits in 2016," he says.

Source: Peterson Farms Seed