By Jim Steadman

Once again, the Deltapine brand of upland cottonseed was again the most popular brand planted in the U.S. this year, according to the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s 2019 Cotton Varieties Planted report.

The Americot/NexGen brands were the second most popular varieties planted, followed by PhytoGen, BASF FiberMax, All-Tex/Dyna-Gro, BASF Stoneville and CROPLAN.

Deltapine’s DP 1646 B2XF was far and away the top upland variety planted in the U.S. for the third consecutive year, accounting for 22.25% of total cotton acres. Deltapine’s DP 1518 B2XF ranked second with 3.7% of acres, followed closely by NG 4545 B2XF from Americot with 3.6% of overall acres.

According to the report released on August 16, Deltapine brand upland varieties accounted for 41% of the U.S. acreage in 2019. Regionally, Deltapine varieties were planted on 53.6% of acres in the Southeast (AL, FL, GA, NC, SC, VA), 78% of Mid-South acres (AR, LA, MS, MO, TN), 25.4% of cotton acres in the Southwest (TX, OK, KS), and 38.7% of Western acres (AZ, CA, NM).

In addition to DP 1646 B2XF and DP 1518 B2XF, other notable Deltapine varieties for the year included DP 1845 B3XF, DP 1522 B2XF and DP 1820 B3XF.

Americot/NexGen claimed 22.8% of the 2019 acreage, including 14.2% of Southeast acres, 6.7% in the Mid-South, and 31.4% of Southwest acres. In addition to NG 4545 B2XF, other top varieties for the year included NG 4777 B2XF, NG 3406 B2XF and NG 5711 B3XF.

PhytoGen brand varieties accounted for 17.8% of U.S. upland cotton acres. The varieties were planted on 19.2% of Southeast acres, 5.9% of Mid-South acres, 20.6% of Southwest acres, and 24.2% of Western acres, led by PHY 350 W3FE, PHY 480 W3FE, PHY 444 WRF and PHY 300 W3FE.

BASF FiberMax brand varieties accounted for 6.6% of the U.S. acreage. The FiberMax varieties were most popular in the Southwest (10.3% of acres) and the West (27.6% of acres), led by FM 1830GLT, FM 2007GLT, FM 1911GLT and FM 1953GLTP.

All-Tex/Dyna-Gro varieties accounted for about 5.5% of the U.S. acres, taking about 1% of Southeast acres, 2.24% in the Mid-South, 8.17% in the Southwest and 8.15% in the West.

BASF Stoneville brand varieties accounted for 3.83% of total U.S. acres, including 7.9% of Southeast acres, 4.76% in the Mid-South and 2.15% in the Southwest.

CROPLAN varieties captured 2.24% of Cotton Belt acres – 4% of Southeast acres, 2.38% in the Mid-South and 1.62% in the Southwest.

Of the 20 most popular upland varieties in the report, Deltapine and Americot/NexGen each claimed seven spots, followed by PhytoGen with four. All-Tex/Dyna-Gro and BASF FiberMax and Stoneville each placed one variety in the top 20.

PhytoGen varieties remained the most popular choice for Pima cotton growers in 2019, with three varieties accounting for 86.7% of all Pima acreage. PHY 881 RF topped the Pima rankings with 76.4% of acres, followed by Hazera’s HA1432-Pima with 6.82%.

Estimates of the percentage of the cotton varieties planted in 2019 were based on informal surveys made by USDA’s Cotton and Tobacco Classing Offices with ginners, seed dealers, Extension agents and other industry sources.