Enlist Trait Analysis

Today’s farming world is filled with the latest and greatest technologies. Seed companies, machinery companies and chemical companies are all in a race with each other to develop the next best thing. It’s an exciting time to be in the ag industry and we have seen a lot of new trends and changing of how things are done in and out of the fields and how we grow and manage our crops.
2015 is a big year for the seed and chemical companies, especially those like Dow, Bayer, and Monsanto as they are teaming up with one another and releasing new traits such as Roundup Ready Extend and Enlist. In this paper I will explain just what the Enlist trait is, how it works, and what the potential risks and benefits are with this trait and how it will change

Well not an entire lot is different really. Enlist is the name for the herbicide resistant traits that Dow has recently developed to be paired with Monsanto’s Smartstax genuity hybrid corn and is to be used with their new herbicide, Enlist Duo. Enlist is composed of the glyphosate trait that is well known for its past effectiveness and relatively harmless and user-friendly qualities, plus the trait for resistance to the nearly 60 year old chemical, 2-4-D. The Enlist traits have been approved and deregulated for use in both corn and soybeans and will be expected to launch in 2015. The soybean version of Enlist, known as E3, will be paired with Bayer’s liberty trait (glufosinate) rather than roundup. Enlist Duo is the new herbicide that will be used on the Enlist trait crops. The herbicide will be made up of primarily glyphosate and a new version of 2-4-D that has been developed to have improved handling abilities, reduced odor, reduced drift and volatility

Another benefit is that by having a dual mode of action herbicide like Enlist Duo, it drastically reduces the likelihood for weeds to simultaneously develop resistance to a dual mode of action herbicide. According to research, the strategy of having two modes of action being applied at the same time will prove more effective than rotating one herbicide and then another (Brazeau). According to the Genetic Literacy Project, if a plant were to have a 1 in a million chance of developing mutant resistant gene to one of the herbicides, by having two herbicides present the odds go to 1 in 10^12 chance of having two mutations survive. Another benefit of the Enlist Duo herbicide and trait is it’s overall user friendly and safe handling qualities. 2,4-D has been around for decades for a reason, and it continues to be one of the most widely used and safest herbicides in the world. In terms of safety, 2,4-D is labeled as Class I in terms of toxicity because of its danger of eye exposure while Glyphosate is labeled as class III with the warning of moderate eye irritation. According to research done on a wide range of pesticides at Oregon State University, it shows that 2,4-D is not considered carcinogenic for humans, non-toxic to bees which are a beneficial insect, and was proven safe towards aquatic animals with the exception of high doses while proving that