By 2027 soybean farmers throughout Canada may have new soybean varieties with tolerance to five key herbicides.
Bayer Crop Science Canada announced its Vyconic soybean trait set last month, calling it “A leap forward in weed control…”
WHY IT MATTERS: Chemical weed control has become more challenging for Canadian farmers as weeds develop resistance and winnow the list of herbicides that are both effective and that won’t hurt the crop.
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Vyconic features tolerance to dicamba, glufosinate, mesotrione, 2 4-D and glyphosate.
The trait set marks a couple of “firsts,” said David Kikkert, the company’s corn and soybean portfolio lead.
“Having a trait that’s tolerant to five herbicides is an industry first in soybeans,” he said. “It’s also a first in the industry to have mesotrione tolerance as well.”
“It’ll give growers great flexibility with some more modes of action to help them with their weed management.”
Bayer’s most recent generation of soybean traits — XtendFlex — also features dicamba, glufosinate and glyphosate. Vyconic adds two more: mesotrione and 2,4-D.
“Both herbicide active ingredients are effective against a wide range of broadleaf weeds, including kochia, fleabane, Palmer amaranth and waterhemp,” a Bayer news release noted.
Multiple actives with different modes of action can also reduce the risk of weeds developing resistance.
Vyconic has been in development for a decade and continues to be field tested.
Bayer says it will develop the overall genetic package that, combined, will become its marketed line of Vyconic soybean cultivars. The trait set will be North America-wide with a number of maturity options.
Next step for company’s soybean genetics
Vyconic is the latest in what Kikkert called Bayer’s “trait pipeline” for soybeans: which has encompassed Roundup Ready, Roundup Ready 2, Roundup Xtend and XtendFlex.
This pipeline approach builds on each new generation of traits, said Kikkert. The system will eventually include Vyconic as a jumping-off point as well.
Rubber meets the road
Vyconic’s success will ultimately come down to the varieties it’s paired with, said Kim Brown, weed specialist with Manitoba Agriculture.
The herbicide mix in Vyconic is what soybean producers need in the face of waterhemp, kochia and Palmer amaranth — all of which impact soybeans, said Brown.
“[Those] are the top weeds in the United States right now that they’re battling. And we know that waterhemp is in Manitoba. It’s moving north and west throughout the province. It’s very likely going to end up in Saskatchewan and Alberta as well, not that they grow a lot of soybeans there.
She said the groups included in the Vyconic package are what growers need to control weeds, whether new, existing or emerging.
Stacking herbicides
If a certain weed is resistant to one or two herbicides in the trait stack, how does including them help? Brown said some crop protection products have synergies which — when combined together — become effective on a molecular level regardless of the weed’s resistance to the herbicides on their own.
But in other cases, stacking works because few weeds are 100 per cent resistant to herbicide. If one doesn’t work, the other herbicides may take up the slack.
Brown emphasized farm-specific management. Farmers must know what active ingredients work or don’t work in their cropping situations.
“You have to kind of look at it case by case, weed by weed, because not all of those products in there have exactly the same weed spectrum. Some are stronger on some weeds than others,” she said.
“But I think it just shows it’s getting very complex. The simple stuff doesn’t work anymore like in the days of just throwing a single product in the tank and going and spraying and walking away from the field, knowing that your weeds were going to be gone.”
Multiple herbicides, more management
Because Vyconic is a tool that enables multiple herbicide use, Brown also noted the potentially more complex herbicide management planning in order to keep herbicides in sync with rotation and avoid issues like residual damage.
“You’d have to look at sensitive crops in the rotation. You’d have to look at what crop you’re following. How do you manage your volunteers? There’s lots of things to look at when it becomes more complex that way, but it does give us more tools.”
