BASF expanded its seed portfolio with the addition of three new Stoneville® cotton varieties for the 2026 growing season.
All new varieties for 2026 include Axant® Flex technology, cotton’s first and only quad-stacked herbicide trait and three-gene insect control with the TwinLink® Plus trait.
“Our new Stoneville varieties are designed to give cotton growers doing the biggest job on Earth the confidence they need to tackle the toughest challenges in their fields,” said Bryan Perry, head of U.S. Seeds and Traits for BASF Agricultural Solutions. “A successful season starts with the right seed, and with Stoneville and FiberMax cotton, we’re helping farmers lay the groundwork for strong yields and premium fiber quality.”
The new varieties include:
ST 4130AXTP: An early-maturing variety with excellent early-season vigor and large seed size. This variety is a good fit on both productive and challenging soil types and has great fiber quality for the Eastern Cotton Belt. It also features root-knot and reniform nematode tolerance.
“ST 4130AXTP is an early-maturing variety that has a good fit in the Mid-Atlantic as well as the North and South Delta,” said Kenny Melton, U.S. cotton agronomy lead, BASF. “It has a large seed that starts off the season strong with great early-season vigor. ST 4130AXTP works well on all types of soil and has good tolerance to both the root-knot nematode and the reniform nematode — two important pests in those cotton-growing regions. Rounding out the profile for this variety, its fiber quality has been excellent, especially its fiber length.”
ST 4650AXTP: An early-to-mid maturing variety with high-yield potential and great early-season vigor for the Eastern Cotton Belt. This variety is broadly adapted for both productive and challenging soil types and features root-knot nematode tolerance and bacterial leaf blight resistance.
“ST 4650AXTP is an early- to mid-maturing variety with resistance to bacterial blight and tolerance to root-knot nematode and has shown exceptional yield performance across the Eastern Cotton Belt,” Melton said. “It performs very well under a wide variety of growing environments, from clay/clay loam to sandy soils. This variety has very good early-season vigor and has an aggressive growth habit, but one that can be managed effectively.”
ST 5260AXTP: A mid-maturity variety with consistent performance in the Mid-South with easy-to-manage plant height and a complete trait package for protection against root-knot and reniform nematodes, as well as bacterial leaf blight resistance.
“ST 5260AXTP is a mid-maturing variety that offers good tolerance to reniform nematode, a key concern for many growers across the Cotton Belt, but especially in the eastern growing regions,” Melton said. “For growers dealing with this pest, which can be highly destructive, this variety represents an important new option. In addition, it offers tolerance to root-knot nematode and resistance to bacterial blight, resulting in a very well-rounded disease package.”
“All new varieties include Axant® Flex technology,” Melton said. “This is a quadruple-stack herbicide technology that gives growers multiple weed-control options. The platform includes tolerance to glyphosate- and glufosinate-based herbicides, including Liberty® herbicide and Liberty® ULTRA herbicide.”
About BASF
BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has approximately 16,000 employees in North America and had sales of $19.7 billion in 2024.