Durastak offers first triple-Bt stack for corn rootworm control

BATAVIA, Ill. — The industry’s first triple-Bt protein stack for corn rootworm control is now available for the 2027 growing season.

The Durastak™ trait stack from Syngenta helps control damaging above- and below-ground pests with alternative modes of action, providing farmers a tool to delay insect resistance for long-term corn rootworm management.

Durastak also will be offered as the DurastakViptera™ trait stack, which adds above-ground insect control.

Syngenta research has shown Durastak provides:

• Next-level corn rootworm control — 50% increase in corn rootworm protection over hybrids with existing Duracade® trait technology under moderately heavy corn rootworm pressure.

• Improved standability — Features two times more root node protection for increased standability under moderately heavy corn rootworm pressure.

• Top yield potential — 9.7-bushel-per-acre average advantage over hybrids with the Duracade trait stack under moderately heavy corn rootworm pressure.

“It’s a unique way to manage corn rootworm versus others in the marketplace. It’s extremely important to provide growers choice and to have different tools in the toolbox to manage corn rootworm,” said Joe Bollman, Syngenta Head of Corn Portfolio Strategy.

“It’s no different than how we think about managing weeds and weed resistance to herbicides or insect control. Having a differentiated offer versus others in the marketplace allows growers to rotate modes of action in managing corn rootworm so these traits work as well as they can for as long as they can.”

Corn rootworm has been coined as the billion-dollar pest, with an average 15% yield loss per node of root injury or more in severe cases.

“It’s one of those things that we’ve got to have all the options available because whether we’re talking about insects, diseases or weeds, the challenges that growers continue to fight continue to adapt. So, we have to continue to have more tools at our disposal,” Bollman said.

Those tools in the battle against resistance in corn rootworm also include in-furrow and foliar insecticides as well as crop rotation.

“Crop rotation is still an outstanding tool for helping manage pests, especially corn rootworm, to lower that pressure. The longer you can rotate away from corn, the better off it is, but obviously that’s not always the case where growers can rotate away from corn for a number of years,” Bollman said.

“If they have higher frequency of corn-on-corn acres, leveraging those traits, leveraging the insecticides to manage the pressure as best they can is extremely important.”

Durastak will be available in hybrids from both the Golden Harvest and NK Seeds brands and through independent seed companies for the 2027 season.

“We’ll continue to expand the offerings of Durastak as well as DurastakViptera trait-containing hybrids over the next couple of years as we continue to bring more genetics into the portfolio,” Bollman said.