Page 4 - 08 Cotton SA March 2016

Improved technology played an important

part in the performance of the SA Cotton crop

ontinued research leads to
an expansion of knowledge
and discoveries. Cotton
research efforts have led to
Ctremendous breakthroughs
in agriculture, such as the introduction
of high-yield, improved quality
performances and drought-resistant
crop varieties.
Agricultural seed suppliers such as
Monsanto and in the latter part of
2013/2014 Bayer Crop Science have
played a major role in doing just
that with the technological improved
cultivars which became available for
commercial plantings.
During the 1997/98 cotton production
season, Monsanto introduced the
well-known Bt cultivars which had
a direct impact with regard to the
improved yields experienced over the
last couple of years! The insertion of
one or more genes from a common
soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis
also protects cotton from bollworms
and a reduction of insecticide use in
the production of the cotton played a
major part in the increasing of profit
margins for the SA cotton farmer.
During the 2003/2004 production
year Roundup Ready cottons became
available where the DNA have been
altered to withstand the herbicide
Glyphosate (Active ingredient of
Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup)
which meant that farmers could spray
the entire crop with Roundup. Killing
the weeds and leaving the crop alive
was very well accepted in South Africa
as management practices were made
easier. Continue on p 5

4 | Volume 18 - No 1