Break-Through Yields Begin With A Fundamental Decision
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Yield is the endgame – it’s the ultimate measure of every harvest. Few things are more satisfying than lining up extra modules on the turnrow and stacking more bales at the gin.
PhytoGen® brand varieties provide maximum yield potential to help growers increase pounds per acre and profit potential.
Long before harvest, a grower makes a foundational decision that will impact yield potential: What varieties will I plant this season?
For consistent, industry-leading yield potential, cotton producers are choosing PhytoGen® cottonseed to help them achieve more pounds per acre. In recent years, PhytoGen® brand varieties have proven themselves in third-party trials with numerous wins in university Official Variety Trials (OVTs). PhytoGen® brand PHY 411 W3FE is one example of recent standouts in the mid-maturity category, taking the No. 1 spot for highest yield in several OVTs since its release in 2022. Another leader in the portfolio is PhytoGen® brand PHY 415 W3FE, also a winner in third-party Extension trials and an excellent complement to PHY 411 W3FE.
Adding to the trial-winning products, PhytoGen announced two new varieties for 2026: PhytoGen® brand PHY 357 W3FE and PHY 433 W3FE. These varieties offer what breeders and agronomists are calling a “generational leap forward” in yield potential. Joel Faircloth, Ph.D., Corteva portfolio leader – cotton, said the new varieties are the culmination of a concerted breeding effort to bring an even higher yield potential to cotton producers.
“Most producers have heard about the performance of PhytoGen brand varieties in recent OVTs, and our customers have experienced this yield potential firsthand on their farms,” Faircloth said. “These new varieties for the 2026 season take that yield potential even higher thanks to advanced breeding techniques and excellent genetic material.”
Like many PhytoGen brand varieties before them, the new varieties have already begun winning gold medals in OVTs. PHY 357 W3FE won the 2024 Mississippi State University (MSU) OVTs and 2024 Louisiana State University (LSU) OVTs, beating out the highest-yielding commercial Deltapine variety by 54 lb./A and 52 lb./A, respectively.1, 2 The new PhytoGen varieties are also outpacing newer competitive varieties. In the same MSU and LSU OVTs, PHY 357 W3FE outyielded DP 2537 B3TXF by an average of 281 pounds/A across 11 plots with a win rate of 82%.
On-Farm Yields Match OVT Success
OVTs are important unbiased, third-party tools to evaluate yield, but producers want to know how varieties will yield in real-world situations. Reports from farmers across the Cotton Belt confirm the significant yield potential with PhytoGen varieties, even against daunting production challenges.
Alabama farmer Dobbins Cosby farms mostly dryland acres that often face hot summers and long periods of drought. One of those tough seasons came in 2024, when Cosby didn’t get a measurable rain after late July. Even in those conditions, PhytoGen brand varieties proved their yield potential: Cosby said PHY 411 W3FE yielded about 200 pounds better than the county average.
“PhytoGen varieties set the crop and held on through harvest. PhytoGen cotton will make good in a bad year, and it will make even better in a good year,” Cosby said. “Why do I plant PhytoGen? It’s a good product with good support. I like that it will come up, I know how to manage it, and I have high yields.”
In years with adequate rain, Cosby said dryland fields planted to PhytoGen varieties have averaged over 3 bales, with a field planted to PhytoGen® brand PHY 400 W3FE averaging 1,640 lb./A – his best dryland yield ever.
Georgia producer Austin Warbington, right, visits with Joel Faircloth, Ph.D., Corteva Portfolio Leader - Cotton, and Russell Nuti, Ph.D., Product Agronomist, about the new for 2026 PhytoGen® brand PHY 357 W3FE and PHY 433 W3FE, offering next-level yield potential to U.S. cotton producers.
Georgia producer Austin Warbington has the same drive for high yields, and he too plants PhytoGen varieties for their yield potential.
“The very best yield we ever grew was a PhytoGen variety,” Warbington said.
In recent years, yield-robbing root-knot nematodes have become a challenge on his farm, as they feed on cotton roots, limit water uptake and lower yields. Newer PhytoGen varieties appeal to Warbington because they provide resistance to root-knot and reniform nematodes without sacrificing high-yield potential.
“We need varieties that can yield well and have nematode resistance, and PHY 475 W3FE and PHY 411 W3FE have that,” Warbington said. “It’s important. Yield-robbing nematodes can really hurt your crop if they’re not managed. With these nematode resistant PhytoGen varieties, you don’t have to apply any nematicide. That saves time, money, and energy.”
Warbington planted PhytoGen® brand PHY 475 W3FE in 2024 and said it was “one of our best yielders overall and our best yielder on dryland.”
While Cosby and Warbington plant PhytoGen brand varieties for their high yield potential, both said their local PhytoGen teams provided critical support, helping to select varieties and find the right fit for their farms. PhytoGen field agronomists are experts on local variety performance and management, and their knowledge helps maximize yield potential with PhytoGen brand varieties. They also have access to additional yield data from trials in each region so that growers can compare performance to soils and conditions similar to their farms.
That personal support, Cosby said, combined with the varieties and yield potential, make variety selection a lot easier.
“I won’t plant anything but PhytoGen,” Cosby said. “They have good people, good varieties, and good yields.”
12024 Mississippi State University Cotton Official Variety Trials. One-year mean yield performance and fiber characteristics across six testing locations.
22025 Cotton Varieties for Louisiana: Variety Trials and On-Farm Demonstrations. Table 5. Summary of lint yield (lbs/ac) of cotton varieties in the 2024 trials.
Individual results may vary. Multi-year and multi-location data are a better predictor of performance. DO NOT USE THIS OR ANY OTHER DATA FROM A LIMITED NUMBER OF TRIALS AS A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN PRODUCT SELECTION. Contact your local PhytoGen field team or the latest and complete listing of traits and scores for the products provided subject to the terms and conditions of purchase which are part of the labeling and purchase documents.
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Find information on nematode management and more in the PhytoGen Cottonseed Agronomy Library.