EPA approves New Corn Trait

Jan 14, 2009 11:25 AM

On the heels of Syngenta’s new Agrisure corn trait event, MIR162, receiving registration approval by the Environmental Protection Agency, the company has given the trait a name: Agrisure Viptera.

The Agrisure Viptera trait will be included in stacks with the Agrisure CB/LL trait for the control of lepidopteran corn pests.

The MIR162 event uses a new proprietary technology from Syngenta that features a novel insecticidal protein called Vegetative Insecticidal Protein 3A (Vip3A). In Syngenta trials, the trait has been shown to provide enhanced control of a wide range of lepidopteran corn pests including corn earworm, western bean cutworm, black cutworm and fall armyworm.

The EPA approval is one of the major regulatory hurdles the trait must clear. Pending remaining approvals from the USDA, EPA and Food and Drug Administration, as well as approval from key import markets, producers could see hybrids with the new trait by the spring of 2010.

The trait will be sold within the Syngenta brands of seeds as well as licensed to other seed companies.

The Agrisure Viptera trait is a new mode of action for insect control in corn, says Tracy Mader, marketing manager for Agrisure Corn Traits. "Current corn insect control traits use Cry proteins," Mader said. "Although Vip3A targets pests in a manner similar to the Cry class of proteins, the two types of protein attack different sites on the pest's gut and have distinct modes of action.”

Viptera is Syngenta’s third trait in the insect-control marketplace, and will compete with the Herculex and Yieldgard products.