Plant husbandry – Plant supports
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-20
2002-08-06
Nashed, Nashaat T. (Department: 1652)
Plant husbandry
Plant supports
C047S00101T, C047S056000, C047S065700, C008S555000, C524S789000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06427378
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to vessel or sheet for growing (hereinbelow, the term “grow” is used in a meaning such that it also includes the germination of a plant, and the growth thereof after the germination) a plant, a support for cultivating a plant, and an agent for modifying (or reforming) soil, which are suitably usable for tissue culturing or the germination of a seed and the growth thereof after the germination, and the growth of a plant in farm cultivation; and a method of growing (in the present specification, the term “growth” is used in a meaning such that it also includes germination and growth after the germination) a plant, while using a gel-like support substantially as it is which has been used in the artificial culturing, whereby a plant can be cultivated in an environment wherein aeration or ventilation is not restricted (e.g., in farm cultivation).
More specifically, the present invention relates to a vessel or sheet for growing a plant (hereinbelow, this term is used in a meaning such that it also includes “seed”), which enables easy transfer of the plant, the promotion of the germination or growth of the plant, and marked reduction in the necessity for strict control of water, etc.
a support to be used for supporting or carrying a plant in the cultivation of the plant; and a soil-modifying agent for supporting or carrying a plant in the cultivation of the plant in combination with another plant-supporting carrier (such as soil), whereby the physical, chemical and microbiological properties of the carrier can be improved or modified on the basis of the application of such a soil-modifying agent to another carrier such as soil); and a method of growing a plant which enables continuous growth of a plant from the culturing to cultivation thereof; and particularly, a method of continuously growing a plant wherein at the time of the transfer from the culturing thereof in a vessel into farm cultivation thereof, the support (or planting material) which has been used in the culturing of the plant can also be used as it is in the cultivation thereof, thereby to omit or simplify the transferring step for the plant, to prevent the physical damage to the root thereof, and to enable the smooth growth of the plant after the transfer thereof into the cultivation step.
In the present specification, “culture” (or culturing) of a plant refers to the growth or multiplication of the plant under a condition (mainly in a vessel) such that the aeration or ventilation into the plant-growing system is controlled or limited; and “cultivation” of a plant refers to the growth or multiplication of the plant under a condition (mainly in a greenhouse or open-air field) such that the aeration or ventilation into the plant-growing system is not limited. With respect to such definition of the culture, it is possible to refer to “Technique in Plant Tissue Culturing” edited by Takeuchi et al., Page 1 (1983), Asakura Shoten; and “Iwanami Biological Dictionary” (3rd edition) edited by Yamada et al., Page 1006 (1983), Iwanami Shoten.
BACKGROUND ART
In recent years, it has attracted much attention to develop a technique for growing or regenerating a plant having a character or trait suitable for an intended purpose. Among these growing and regenerating techniques, a plant tissue culture technique, i.e., a technique wherein a part of a plant is separated from the main body thereof, and is grown in the inside a culturing vessel has particularly attracted much attention, since it enables the mass multiplication of a genetically identical clone in a short period of time. (Kiyoshi Okawa “General Introduction to Horticultural of Flowers”, page 54, 1995, Yokendo). Heretofore, in the production of a plant (mainly, a plantlet) using a plant tissue-culturing technique, agar gel has been used as a support therefor. However, the agar gel has a characteristic such that it hardly absorb water content again, after it discharges water content due to the evaporation of water or the absorption of water into the plant. Particularly, in an open-system cultivation environment such as farm cultivation, the water content-retaining function of the agar and the plant-retaining function thereof as a gel are rapidly decreased. Accordingly, it is naturally impossible to use the agar gel as the support (or planting material) in the open-system farm cultivation.
From such a viewpoint, it is necessary to remove the agar gel at the time at which a plantlet is transferred from the culture thereof in a vessel into the farm cultivation thereof. However, it is inevitable to manually conduct a step of removing the agar gel one by one with respect to the plantlet, and therefore such a removing step not only requires much labor and long time, but also poses some problems such that it damages the root of the plantlet, is liable to cause a root decay (or root rot) phenomenon, etc.
On the other hand, in the case of the culture of a very small plantlet (minute plantlet), a saccharide is generally added into the liquid culture medium to be used for the culture. The reason for this is that, in general, such a minute plantlet does not have an organ such as albumen of a seed, leaf and stem portion thereof for conducting a photo-synthesis reaction is not sufficiently developed, and therefore it is necessary to add a carbon source which the minute plantlet can absorb directly. In addition to the case of the tissue-cultured plantlet, in a case of a seed having no albumen such as that of an orchid (Orchidaceae) plant, a minute plantlet which has been germinated in a vessel is subjected to a saccharide-involving (or saccharide-relating) culture process for a similar reason. However, since the saccharide which has been added into the plant-growing system promotes the propagation of various germs, it is substantially impossible to use the agar gel containing a saccharide as it is in an open-system (non-sterilized) environment such as farm cultivation.
As described above, in a case where the conventional method of growing a plant by using agar gel, it is substantially impossible to continuously grow the plant from the culture thereof to farm cultivation thereof (by using the support used for the culture as it is), and therefore the step of removing the agar is required. In addition, since such a agar-removing step must be conducted by using manual operations, a considerable period of time is required, and further, the step has problems such that it damages the root of the plant, and various germs are liable to propagate due to the presence of the remaining agar gel so as to cause a root decay phenomenon.
In addition to the above-mentioned problem of the transfer from the “culture” to the “cultivation”, in the course of plant growth, it is also an important subject to control the amount of the supply of water content, a nutrient, etc., to the plant.
In view of the physiology of a plant, “water” is one of the environmental factors which exerts the greatest influence upon the growth of the plant, and particularly, it is an element essential for the photo-synthesis. The absorption of the water content, which is an extremely important environmental factor, is mainly concerned with the transpiration due to “stomata” as openings of the back surface of a leaf of the plant.
More specifically, when the water content of cells constituting a plant is decreased by the transpiration of water, the water content in the plant assumes a non-equilibrium state, and the plant absorbs water content in soil through the root thereof on the basis of the “transpiration pressure” as an action for retaining the non-equilibrium state in an equilibrium.
The above-mentioned stoma also has a function of taking CO
2
in, which is necessary for the photo-synthesis, from the air. However, since the water content in the mesophyll cells, wherein the photo-synthesis is mainly to be conducted, is transpired due to the presence of the openings of the stomata, the water content in the mesophyll cells is required to be supplemented promptly. In other words, water must be
Mukoyama Takehiko
Obonai Yasuhiro
Nashed Nashaat T.
Saidha Tekchand
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