Plant protecting and regulating compositions – Plant growth regulating compositions – Abscission agent – defoliant – or desiccant
Patent
1998-10-27
2000-11-21
Clardy, S. Mark
Plant protecting and regulating compositions
Plant growth regulating compositions
Abscission agent, defoliant, or desiccant
504168, 504169, A01N 4340, A01N 4342, A01N 4350, A01N 4366, A01N 4370
Patent
active
061503010
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The ability of plants to slough off organs by an active separation of cells is distinctive to higher green plants. Plant physiologists describe this process as abscission. This invention relates to the use of certain chemical compounds as agents to promote the abscission of fruits, and to compositions comprising said compounds.
The harvesting of fruit crops has traditionally been accomplished by manual labor. However, in recent years, the shortage and expense of manual labor has prompted the development of other means for picking and harvesting fruit crops. To this end, a wide variety of mechanical devices has been developed, each of which operate in accordance with a different principle in order to remove fruit from trees or plants. For example, one device utilizes giant fans for generating strong air blasts to blow the fruit from the trees. Another device includes a series of notched or toothed arms which operate by combing the tree limbs thereby raking the fruit from the trees. Finally, mechanical shakers have been developed having an arm or boom which is connected to either a branch or the trunk of the tree and operates by violently shaking the tree in order to shake the fruit loose. However, none of these devices has been entirely successful in many crops. If the fruit is firmly attached to the tree, strong air blasts or mechanical shaking cause the fruit to strike spurs, branches and other fruit thereby bruising and damaging the fruit. Since the force necessary to remove firmly-attached fruit is usually that force necessary to tear the rind, many fruits suffer open wounds and tearing when these mechanical devices, as well as the notched arms, are used. The result is poor quality fruit since there is usually a considerable time lapse between the time of harvesting and the time of final use within which the fruit is subject to decay where wounds and bruises appear. In addition, the force generated by these mechanical devices causes the removal of twigs, leaves and branches which are carried with the fruit to the processing plant. Such extraneous matter must be removed manually in order to avoid damage to the fruit processing machinery, which is a time-consuming and expensive operation. Finally, it has been observed that long periods of shaking by mechanical shakers result in bark damage and disturbance to the root system, which can easily result in long-term plant destruction.
It has now been found that by first treating the fruit-bearing plants with an appropriate chemical abscission agent, the fruits are induced to abscise with either little or no mechanical aid.
Chemicals used to assist in loosening the fruit for the harvesting operation are sometimes called, in general terms, harvesting aid chemicals or fruit loosening chemicals. If the amount of force needed to separate a fruit from the rest of the plant can be reduced through the use of chemical, this would be a significant contribution to agriculture and would be useful to farmers and growers. Such a chemical would allow pickers to pick the fruit easily and more quickly. In the case where mechanical harvesters are used, the amount of force which would have to be applied by the mechanical harvester could be reduced. More fruit per tree (per vine, or unit or row) could be harvested more easily and uniformly. Less damage to the fruit itself and to the rest of the plant would result if a chemical loosening agent effectively reduced the required harvest force. The quality of the fruit would increase because of less damage and possibly the yield per tree (per hectare, or per other unit of measure) would increase because of a more uniform and complete harvest.
This invention relates to the use of certain chemicals which have a positive and beneficial effect on the abscission process. They facilitate and make the harvesting of crops easier. To harvest fruit, whether it is done by hand or mechanically, a given amount of force (energy) must be applied by hand or mechanically to the fruit, or portion of the plant to be harvested, in order to force it to ab
REFERENCES:
patent: 4786312 (1988-11-01), Schmierer et al.
patent: 4999041 (1991-03-01), Grossmann et al.
patent: 5045105 (1991-09-01), Grossmann et al.
patent: 5188657 (1993-02-01), Hamprecht et al.
Taylor John B.
Wilcox Merrill
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