Plant protecting and regulating compositions – Plant growth regulating compositions – Plural active ingredients
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-22
2001-07-10
Clardy, S. Mark (Department: 1616)
Plant protecting and regulating compositions
Plant growth regulating compositions
Plural active ingredients
C504S124000, C504S125000, C504S292000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06258749
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to methods and formulations for treating plants and enhancing plant growth and for safening high concentrations of phytocatalysts, such as ammonium, using polyacylglycosides and/or polyalkylglycosides and more specifically to methods for treating plants and enhancing plant growth with formulations comprising high concentrations of ammonium and one or more polyacylglycosides and/or polyalkylglycosides.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The growth of plants is dependent on the synthesis of polysaccharides, especially, cellulose in cell walls. Innumerable methods and compositions have been proposed and/or developed to enhance the synthesis of these polysaccharides and thereby promote plant growth. Over the years, much of this development has focused on applying plant growth regulators (PGRs), such as auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins and brassinolides, to plants. Vitamin K and derivatives thereof have also been considered for use as a plant growth regulator as taught by Iino et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,201. However, field results using PGRs has, at best, been mixed. Further, PGRs, such as the derivatives of vitamin K proposed by Iino et al., are cost-prohibitive for practical applications. More recently, researchers are also considering genetic manipulation and related techniques to alter or otherwise enhance the growth patterns of plants. At present, many of these techniques are not yet applicable to field production and are typically limited to a specific type of plant.
Whether using a plant growth regulator or a genetically altered plant, any number of agronomically suitable additives, adjuvants and/or phytocatalysts are applied to the plants to support or enhance plant growth, including: fertilizers containing elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, elevated carbon dioxide, hydrogen peroxide, iron and manganese; secondary nutrients such as sources of sulfur, calcium, and magnesium; micronutrients, such as boron, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, zinc, nickel; water soluble carbohydrates such as sucrose, fructose and glucose as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,729; and various alkyl glucosides as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,104.
Several of the phytocatalysts are particularly important, such as iron, manganese and an ammoniacal nitrogen source such as ammonium. However, it is known that high doses of these phytocatalyst nutrients are lethal to plants because the plants are not able to metabolize the nutrients at a sufficient rate. For example, it is known that, under conventional conditions of plant culture, ammonium is phytotoxic to plants at high concentrations as described by Robert M. Devlin et al.,
Photosynthesis,
pp. 270-277 (Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. 1971). Devlin et al. found that a high concentration of ammonium elicits a plant response akin to various nutrient deficiencies. Further, ammonium ions are known to inhibit photophosphorylation and subsequent carbon dioxide fixation and, at very high concentrations, to impair photosynthesis in intact leaves.
Since high concentrations of ammonium reduce plant growth, the amount of ammonium used is typically limited to less than one third of the total source of nitrogen. See, Roy A. Larson,
Introduction to Floriculture,
2d. Edition, p. 464 (Academic Press 1992). The recommended optimal nitrate-N concentrations are between 100 to 199 ppm for most horticultural applications. See, Id. and Vic Ball,
Ball RedBook,
15th Edition, p. 246 (Geo J. Ball 1991). The generally accepted upper limit for nitrogen fertilizer is between about 300 ppm to 400 ppm. Concentrations above this range are considered toxic to plants. Thus, applying ammonium to treat plants and facilitate plant growth has until now been limited to low concentrations. Methods and formulations for safening high concentrations of manganese with alkyl glycosides are disclosed by A. Nonomura in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/448,345, filed on Nov. 23, 1999 and are incorporated herein by reference.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a primary object of the invention to provide methods and formulations for treating plants and enhancing plant growth and for safening high concentrations of phytocatalysts, such as ammonium, by applying a formulation, comprising one or more polyacylglycosides and/or polyalkylglycosides, to the plants.
It is a further object of the invention to provide methods and formulations for treating plants and enhancing plant growth and for safening high concentrations of phytocatalysts, such as ammonium, by applying a formulation, comprising one or more polyacylglycosides, to the plants.
It is a further object of the invention to provide methods and formulations for treating plants and enhancing plant growth and for safening high concentrations of phytocatalysts, such as ammonium, by applying a formulation, comprising an effective amount of glucose pentaacetate, to the plants.
It is a further object of the invention to provide methods and formulations for safening high concentrations of ammonium, in a range between about 500 ppm to 2500 ppm of ammonium ions, for treating plants and enhancing plant growth.
It is a further object of the invention to provide methods and formulations for safening high concentrations of phytocatalysts, including, but not limited to, ammonium and manganese, for treating plants and enhancing plant growth.
It is a further object of the invention to provide methods and formulations for treating plants and enhancing plant growth by applying a formulation, of high concentrations of ammonium with one or more polyacylglycosides and/or polyalkylglycosides, to the plants.
It is a further object of the invention to provide methods and formulations for treating plants and enhancing plant growth using one or more polyacylglycosides and/or polyalkylglycosides, which are more potent than monoalkyl- and monoacylglycosides and more cost effective than cyclicalkylglycosides and cyclicacylglycosides and vitamin K and derivatives thereof.
In crops, such as rice, yields have proven to be carbon sink limited. Cellulose is the largest sink in any plant and the application of polyalkylglycosides and/or polyacylglycosides to allocate carbon into the largest sink may open crops to the proportionate enhancement of yield potential. See e.g., J. C. Waterlow et al., “Applications of science to increase yield”, Chapter III,
Feeding a World Population of More Than Eight Billion People
(Oxford Univ. Press, 1998).
The methods and formulations of the invention are used to activate plant growth in a manner similar to the Rhizobial synergistic mode of activity, where the plant provides the Rhizobia with sugar and, in turn, the Rhizobia provide the plant host with ammonia. Thus plant growth is artificially signaled and activated by simulating a plant's nodulation (Nod) response to Rhizobia. For illustration, chitooligosaccharide (CO) compounds, tetra-N-acetylchitotetraose and octa-N-acetylchitooctaose, are known to elicit plant defense systems. Ryan, C. A.,
Biochemisty,
27:8879 (1988). Tetra-N-acetylchitotetraose is a component of the lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs) secreted from Rhizobia. Synthetic LCO compounds act as signaling molecules in the host plant. Rohrig, H., et al.,
Science,
269:841 (1995). Tetra-N-acetylchitotetraose is also a substrate for the Rhizobium leguminosarum nodulation protein NodB, a CO deacetylase. John, M., et al.,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
90:625 (1993). Similarly, penta-N-acetylchitotetraose is a substrate for the Rhizobium leguminosarum nodulation protein NodL. Bloemberg, G. V., et al.,
Molecular Microbiology,
11:794 (1994). Recombinant NodB deacetylates the acetylglucosamine residue of the CO, but does not deacetylate the monoacylmonosaccharide, N-acetylglucosamine.
The formulations of the invention effectively mimic the poly-N-acetylchitotetraose structure without the high molecular weight, which would otherwise interfere with cell membrane penetration, and without the high degree of specificity associated with Nod proteins. Further, the pol
Clardy S. Mark
The Dow Chemical Company
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