Plant husbandry – Coated or impregnated seed – method or apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-10
2003-05-06
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Plant husbandry
Coated or impregnated seed, method or apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
active
06557298
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to treatment of seeds with fungicides, pesticides, chemical hybridizing agents and other chemical agents, and more particularly to such treatment for enhancing the uptake of such agents into the plants that emerge from the seeds.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Growing crops and other plants have long been treated with a variety of active chemical agents to impart to the plants desirable effects, such as enhanced growth characteristics or enhanced resistance to pests or diseases. Examples of such agents include herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, chemical hybridizing agents, auxins, and plant growth regulators.
Active chemical agents have been applied by application of the agents to the plants themselves and to the growing medium (e.g., soil) for the plants. However, it has been found that treatments can be employed prior to the emergence of the plants, by applying active chemical agents in a manner to affect the seeds, either by applying the agents to the growing medium near the seeds or, more preferably, by applying the agents directly to the seeds themselves. In particular, it has been discovered that if the active chemical agents are applied to the seeds prior to or during germination of the plants, or to the growing medium in which the seeds are planted, the agents may be taken up into the resulting plants via the seed or root, thereby producing the desired effect in the resulting plants themselves.
For several reasons, such pre-emergent application often has been found advantageous relative to post-emergent topical application to the plants. For example, application of the active chemical agents to the seeds prior to or during germination of the plants, or to the growing medium in which the seeds are planted, has been found to eliminate the need for the expensive equipment required for topical application of such agents to in situ growing plants, to reduce the waste associated with the topical application to in situ growing plants, to reduce the run-off associated with such topical applications and the resulting need for repeated re-application of the agents.
On the other hand, pre-emergent techniques also suffer certain drawbacks as well. For instance, whether the active agent is applied to the growing medium or directly to the seed prior to planting, the active agent often tends to bond in some fashion to the soil (or other growing medium) or certain components of the soil. This can limit uptake into the plant or otherwise inhibit delivery of an effective dose to the pest or target site in the plant. In addition, applying the active agent to the soil in which the seeds are planted, such as by applying the agent in a band over the soil in which the seeds are planted, requires additional costs, efforts and equipment associated with in situ applications and results in run-off and so loss of some of the agent and increase of environmental concerns.
Applying the active agent to the seed itself is fraught with other problems as well. First, it is usually difficult to bond active agents to seeds. And once the active agent is bonded to the seed, such as by use of an adhesive, the method of adherence, or active agent itself can cause agglomeration of seeds together, making it difficult to use standard planting equipment, and wasting seed and active agent as masses of agglomerated seeds and active agent are planted instead of individually coated seeds. Moreover, once adhered, much of the active agent is typically lost due to abrasion encountered during handling. In addition, whether it is because of the above-mentioned tendency of active agents to bond with soil or soil-components or for some other reason, conventional seed coating techniques do not effectively counter the low rates of consequent uptake of the agent into the resulting plants. Indeed, whether the active agent has been added to the soil or directly to the seed, the active agent concentration in the plants resulting from the pre-emergent applications can be significantly lower than that resulting from the post-emergent topical applications. Therefore, even pre-emergent application techniques have required undesirably high dosage rates, re-treatment of plants at a later stage of development, or both.
There have been reports of attempts to treat seeds with certain active agents by coating the seeds in a water-saturated hydrogel containing the agents. Such techniques entail their own problems, primarily involved not only with the space considerations resulting from the relatively large seed coatings, but also with the difficulty in adhering the water-saturated hydrogel to the seed, in keeping the coating congealed together, in handling such gelatinous masses in place of discrete, solid seeds, with agglomeration together of coated seeds and with the undesirable effects of keeping the seeds moist (e.g., germination or spoilage), especially during storage. Thus, techniques for dealing with some of these problems have been proposed. For example, certain U.S. patents have suggested placing each seed in a gelatinous mass, or even in a bubble within the gelatinous mass, and/or exposing the seed-containing globules of gelatinous mass to certain metal ions to cross-link the hydrogel along the outer surface of the gelatinous globule about the seed to form a solid coating over the globule, encasing the water-saturated hydrogel. However, such efforts have not proved satisfactory because they still do not address all of the problems discussed above (e.g., the seed being encased in an undesirably large coating, resulting in additional storage and transportation costs as well as difficulties in using standard equipment for distributing the seeds, the presence of moisture, not to mention the question of efficacy in imparting appropriate active agent concentrations in the resulting plants, and the potential undesirable effects of the hardened outer casing) and because of the additional efforts and expense they involve.
Accordingly, there has been a continual search for seed treatment techniques that maintain satisfactory transportation, storage, and handling properties of the seeds, yet produce acceptable levels of active agents in the resulting plants.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention, therefore, is directed to a novel method for treating a seed, comprising forming on the seed a coating comprising a dry mixture of hydrogel and an active ingredient for producing a desirable effect on the seed, a plant that may emerge from the seed or both.
The present invention is also directed to a method for improving delivery of an active ingredient to a plant grown from a seed, the active ingredient being one that produces a desirable effect on the plant. The method comprises forming on the seed a coating comprising a dry mixture of hydrogel and the active ingredient, and thereafter planting the seed in a growth medium.
Among the several advantages of this invention, may be noted the provision of a method for coating seeds with active ingredients that enhances uptake of the active ingredients in resulting plants; the provision of such method that provides a relatively abrasion-resistant coating; the provision of such method that avoids the problems associated with moistening the seeds; the provision of such method that is accomplished with a relatively thin coating; the provision of such method that reduces or eliminates the need for re-treatments; the provision of such method improving delivery of an active ingredient to a target site or pest within or in the vicinity of the plant and the provision of a pre-emergent method for treating plants with such advantages.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that seeds coated with a dry mixture of hydrogel and an active ingredient for producing a desirable effect on the seed, a plant that may emerge from the seed, or both, resists loss of coating due to abrasion encountered during handling, storage, transportation, distributio
Asrar Jawed
Kohn Frank C.
Neumann (nee Terrian) Deborah L.
Obert Janet C.
Hayes Bret
Monsanto Technology LLC
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
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