Scott, Miss. (June 3, 2003) Delta and Pine Land Company (D&PL)
fires
another shot in the Cotton Revolution this season with a limited
launch
of DP 444 BG/RR.
An early-season, Bollgard®/Roundup
Ready® stacked-gene variety, DP 444
BG/RR was tested in State Official Variety Trials (OVT) across the Cotton
Belt
in 2002. In these trials, it demonstrated a strong ability to produce
good
fiber quality, especially in the micronaire category. DP 444 BG/RR has
also been through D&PL field-testing across early-season markets
in the
Mid-South and Southeast. In 2002 in these regions, not one fiber sample
of DP 444
BG/RR produced in company tests hit the high-mic discount level.
Extensive testing has shown
that DP 444 BG/RR is another early-maturing
D&PL stacked-gene product that offers very good fiber quality potential,
says
Jim Willeke, vice president of sales and marketing.
"In 2002, we demonstrated that cotton yields could be pushed to
new
heights with the high-powered DP 555 BG/RR,'' he says. "This season,
in a
limited commercial release of DP 444 BG/RR, we will show that early-season,
stacked-gene varieties can offer farmers excellent fiber quality
potential.''
D&PL collected fiber
data from 203 individual DP 444 BG/RR testing
locations across the Cotton Belt in 2002. The locations included D&PL
Agronomic
Services Tests, D&PL breeder plots, state OVTs, county extension
agent
trials and private crop consultant trials. In 92 percent of the 203
locations tested, DP 444 BG/RR avoided micronaire discounts. None of
the
testing locations in the Mid-South or Southeast recorded high mic, and
54 percent of the total 203 locations were in the premium micronaire
range.
In field testing across early-season
markets in the Mid-South and
Southeast to date, DP 444 BG/RR has demonstrated an ability to yield
similar to PM
1218 BG/RR and a have wide adaptability, similar to that of SG 215
BG/RR.
''Based on our testing, DP
444 BG/RR should be an excellent
early-maturing variety for growers in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana,
Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and
Virginia,'' Willeke says. ''DP 444 BG/RR is another outstanding product
in a group of varieties making their way through D&PL's breeding
and testing
programs that will offer farmers new and better choices for yield and
fiber quality stability.''
Delta and Pine Land Company
is a commercial breeder, producer and
marketer of cotton planting seed, as well as soybean seed, in the Cotton
Belt.
For almost 90 years, the company has used its extensive plant breeding
programs, drawing from a diverse germplasm base, to develop improved
cotton
varieties.
Delta and Pine Land Company
(NYSE: DLP), headquartered in Scott,
Mississippi, has offices in eight states and facilities in several
foreign countries. For more information, please refer to the company's
website
at www.deltaandpine.com.
Bollgard and Roundup Ready
are registered trademarks of Monsanto. The
Cotton Revolution is a trademark of Delta and Pine Land Company.
# # #
John Haman
PR Account Executive
Mangan Holcomb Rainwater Culpepper
2300 Cottondale Lane
Little Rock, AR 72202
501-376-0321
501-376-6127 (fax)
john@people-energy-ideas.com
