Achievements
in Plant
Biotechnology
1999

Roundup Ready
Cotton

Roundup Ready herbicide-tolerant cotton can withstand labeled over-the-top applications of Roundup herbicide, providing growers with superior weed control and crop safety. Currently, Roundup Ready cotton is sold only in the U.S. and 1999 was its third commercial year.

"...this new technology will be crucial to the preservation of our planet's diverse ecosystems."

Ray A. Bressan, Ph.D., Purdue University

American farmers planted 5.2 million acres of Roundup Ready cotton across the southern cotton belt in 1999. This total includes varieties containing the Roundup Ready gene only and varieties containing both Roundup Ready and Bollgard insect-protection genes in a single plant. In all, 39 percent of cotton acres were planted in Roundup Ready cotton varieties last year. Regulatory approval currently is pending for Roundup Ready cotton in Australia, Argentina, Mexico, and South Africa, and the product is under development in Brazil and Turkey.

Grower Satisfaction
1999 post-harvest surveys indicate that 91 percent of farmers surveyed were satisfied with the performance of Roundup Ready cotton varieties and 85 percent of those who were surveyed and grew stacked gene varieties reported they were satisfied.

Farmers reported that Roundup Ready cotton systems provided them with better weed control, reduced hand labor, easier adoption of conservation tillage systems, excellent crop safety and lower input costs. And, yields for Roundup Ready cotton systems were competitive with conventional cotton varieties and systems last year. In fact, growers reported their Roundup Ready cotton averaged 36 lbs. more lint per acre than non-Roundup Ready systems. Bollgard with Roundup Ready stacked gene cotton yielded an average of 53 lbs. more lint per acre than conventional cotton.

"Roundup Ready cotton is the best thing that ever happened to the cotton farmer in my lifetime. It's made cotton production so much easier and more economical ."

Robert Mashburn, Cotton Grower, Bolton, Mississippi

The Roundup Ready cotton system helps to provide superior weed control and crop safety, and the potential to reduce the amount of residual herbicides and hand labor required to grow conventional cotton. It also helps to facilitate the adoption of conservation tillage practices, which improve the soil and conserve moisture and nutrients.

Effect of Herbicide Systems on Yield of Roundup Ready Cotton Cultivars
Herbicide System	Yield
	Herbicide Cost	Early Maturity Varieties	Later Maturity Varieties
Roundup Ultra® Only	$/acre $ 21	pounds lint/acres
		533	749
Roundup Ultra® plus Residual Herbicides	$ 41	439	626
Conventional Herbicides Only	$ 52	374	575
Financial support for these projects provided by the South Carolina Cotton State Support Committee and Cotton Incorporated. Herbicide costs based on 1998 local retail prices. Does not include technical fees. Average of 5 early maturity and 4 later maturity Roundup Ready cotton varieties evaluated in 1998 and 1999. Means within the same column with the same letter are not different. Source: Dr. Lloyd May, USDA, ARS, Florence, SC; Dr.Edward Murdock and R.Graham, Clemson University, Florence, SC.

For more information on Roundup Ready Cotton visit the BiotechBasics link.

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Achievements in Plant Biotechnology 1999

Achievements
in Plant
Biotechnology
1999