Anaheim, California
January 9, 2001

Delta and Pine Land Company announced the company is introducing two new stripper Roundup Ready® cotton varieties for the 2001 growing season: Paymaster PM 2156 RR and Paymaster PM 2379 RR. The announcement was made today at the New Developments in Industry session of the 2001 Beltwide Cotton Conferences in Anaheim.

"The introduction of Roundup Ready varieties to the stripper market in 1997 has surpassed initial expectations and has allowed for increased research and development of new varieties," says Tom Speed, High Plains technical services director for Delta and Pine Land Company. "PM 2156 RR and PM 2379 RR raise the bar to a new standard for early-maturing and mid-full season stripper varieties."

PM 2156 RR is an early-season, high-yielding, determinant variety with semi-smooth leaf pubescence. Plant height is medium with seed size ranging from 4,200 to 4,600 seeds per pound. Storm resistance of open bolls is rated fair.

PM 2156 RR has yielded an average 7.8 percent higher than its recurrent parent,

DP 2156, in 34 tests conducted in 1999 and 2000 (Table 1). Good seedling vigor coupled with high early-season fruit retention and large bolls have been key components for PM 2156 RR performance (Table 2). Seed supply for the variety will be somewhat limited in 2001 due to the high demand for early-season stripper Roundup Ready varieties.

PM 2379 RR is a medium to full-season, indeterminant, stormproof stripper variety that has shown wide adaptation across the Texas High Plains. The variety has good early-season vigor compared with other commercially available stripper varieties. Seed size ranges from 4400 to 4800 seeds per pound.

"PM 2379 RR’s two distinctive features are excellent yield potential and good fiber quality," says Speed. "It also has very good storm resistance and very good tolerance to Verticillium wilt."

PM 2379 RR has an average yield within 1 percent of DP 2379 (Table 3). PM 2379 RR has out-yielded PM 2326 RR by 3.5 percent and PM 2200 RR by 6.4 percent over 37 trials conducted since 1998 (Table 4). Seed supplies for 2001 growing season will be excellent for a first-year commercial introduction.

The following charts provide additional yield information for both varieties:

Table 1: Yield Performance Comparing PM 2156 RR and DP 2156 during 1999 and 2000

27 D&PL trials and 7 University trials.

Table 2: Yield Performance of PM 2156 RR relative to other commercially available early season RR varieties during 1999 and 2000.

25 D&PL trials and 5 University trials.

Table 3: Yield Performance of PM 2379 RR and DP 2379 from 1998 to 2000.

21 D&PL Trials and 6 University trials.

Table 4: Yield Performance of PM 2379 from 1998 to 2000.

33 D&PL trials and 4 University trials.

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 more than 80 years, the Mississippi-based company has drawn from its diverse germplasm base to breed superior plant varieties. Delta and Pine Land has offices in seven states and facilities in several foreign countries and trades under the NYSE symbol DLP.

The full text of this and other presentations can reviewed at www.deltaandpine.com/html/beltwide

Company news release
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