Milwaukee, Wisconsin
November 27, 2007
Torque™ IF, a new in-furrow corn
treatment from EMD Crop BioScience, brings a new category to
corn farming – the onput. The first corn product to contain LCO
Promoter Technology® , Torque IF helps corn hybrids maximize
their genetic potential, enhancing emergence and root and shoot
growth for stronger, healthier, higher yielding crops.
LCO Promoter Technology is a unique, naturally occurring
molecule that enhances plant development. “We call it a crop
onput, rather than input,” says Scott Fleetwood, Vice President
for Sales and Marketing with
EMD Crop BioScience,
“It literally turns on a plant’s growth processes, like a light
switch, regardless of hybrid, soil and weather conditions.
“Torque IF is not your average crop treatment. It’s able to
deliver much more in terms of faster emergence, stronger root
development, and better overall plant health because it contains
LCO Promoter Technology.”
By turning the plants on early in the season, Fleetwood says,
Torque IF helps a young corn crop overcome a lot of early-season
challenges, and that means a better yield come fall.
In field trials conducted throughout the Midwest this summer,
corn treated with Torque IF consistently outperformed the
control at various stages of growth.
Ron Perry, of Aurora, Neb., conducted trials of Torque IF on his
irrigated corn this season and says it made a significant
difference in his crop, which ran an average of just under 240
bushels per acre this season.
“The 30 acres with Torque IF came up about 6 bushels better than
the other 50 acres in the field,” Perry says.
When he saw root system comparisons in late summer, Perry was
surprised. “There was a tremendous difference in the roots: more
mass and 10 to 12 inches longer roots on the Torque IF -treated
than the [control] plants,” he says.
Fleetwood says the bigger root systems enhance water and
nutrient uptake, leading to improved plant health and enhancing
the ability to withstand the stress of early-season
environmental pressures like cool soils, unstable weather and
seed-and soil-borne disease.
“The technology works by stimulating a plant’s natural growth
systems, enhancing growth in the roots and shoots of corn
plants,” Fleetwood explains. “It means that corn treated with
Torque IF will develop bigger, healthier root systems earlier,
have quicker emergence, and strong stand establishment. The
stronger a crop starts, the stronger it usually finishes.”
Originally founded as the Nitragin Company in 1898 after a
Milwaukee entrepreneur purchased rights to a commercial process
for the production of nitrogen-fixing rhizobia, Nitragin
remained privately owned until 1982. In 1991 Merck KGaA,
Darmstadt, Germany purchased the business. Now headquartered in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, EMD Crop BioScience is committed to
advancing crop-enhancing technologies and making these products
available to growers worldwide.
Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company with sales
of EUR 6.3 billion in 2006, a history that began in 1668, and a
future shaped by 30,962 employees in 61 countries. In 1917 the
U.S. subsidiary Merck & Co. was expropriated and has been an
independent company ever since. |
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