METHOD OF IMPROVING THE GROWTH AND/OR THE YIELD OF PLANTS GROWN ON AGRICULTURALLY OR HORTICULTURALLY UTILIZED SUBSTRATES BY APPLYING A NITRICATION INHIBITOR ADDED TO THE IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of improving the growth and/or the yield of plants grown on agriculturally or horticulturally utilized substrates by applying at least one active compound (nitrification inhibitor) on agriculturally or horticulturally utilized substrates, wherein the at least one active compound I is added to the irrigation system in a water-dissolved form.

Claims

1. A method of improving the growth and/or the yield of plants grown on agriculturally or horticulturally utilized substrates comprising applying at least one active compound I (nitrification inhibitor) selected from the group consisting of a) 2-(3,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid and/or 2-(4,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid, and/or a derivative thereof, and/or a salt thereof, on an agriculturally or horticulturally utilized substrate, wherein the at least one active compound I is added to an irrigation system in a water-dissolved form.

2. A method of increasing inhibition of nitrification on agriculturally or horticulturally utilized substrates fertilized with a fertilizer, comprising applying at least one active compound I as defined in claim 1 on an agriculturally or horticulturally utilized substrate, wherein the at least one active compound I is applied by an irrigation system in a water-dissolved form.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein compound I is selected from the group consisting of compounds I.A, I.B, I.C, I.D and I.E: I.A: 2-(3,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid and/or 2-(4,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid, I.C: a potassium salt of 2-(3,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid and/or 2-(4,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid, I.D: an ammonium salt of 2-(3,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid and/or 2-(4,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid, and I.E: a sodium salt of 2-(3,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid and/or 2-(4,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein compound I is 2-(3,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid and/or 2-(4,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein compound I is an ammonium salt of 2-(3,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid and/or 2-(4,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein compound I is a potassium salt of 2-(3,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid and/or 2-(4,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)succinic acid.

7. The method according to anyone of the claim 1, wherein additionally a fertilizer (F) is applied on the agriculturally or horticulturally utilized substrate.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein a mixture comprising the at least one active compound I and a fertilizer (F) is added to the irrigation system.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one active compound I is added to the irrigation system and a fertilizer (F) is added to the same irrigation system with a time interval of at least 1 hour.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one active compound I is added to the irrigation system and a fertilizer (F) is added to the same irrigation system with a time interval of at least 1 day.

11. The method according to anyone of the claim 1, wherein a fertilizer (F) is applied on the agriculturally or horticulturally utilized substrate without being added to the irrigation system.

12. The method according to anyone of the claim 7, wherein the fertilizer (F) is selected from the group consisting of ammonium nitrate, calcium ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, ammonium sulfate nitrate, calcium nitrate, diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate, ammonium thio sulfate, calcium cyanamide, NP, NK and NPK complex fertilizers, physical mixtures of salts and/or fertilizers each containing N, P and/or K, anhydrous ammonia, urea, urea ammonium nitrate (UAN), urea ammonium sulfate, magnesium salts, calcium salts, sulfur containing compounds, and trace elements selected from the group consisting of manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), boron (B), chlorine (Cl), nickel (Ni), molybdenum (Mo).

13. The method according to anyone of the claim 7, wherein a weight ratio of the active compound I and the fertilizer (F) is from 1:10000 to 1:3.

14. The method according to anyone of the claim 1, wherein no fertilizer (F) is applied on an agriculturally or horticulturally utilized substrate.

15. The method according to anyone of the claim 1, to wherein the active compound I is applied via a drip irrigation system, a trickle irrigation system, a sprinkler irrigation system, a surface irrigation system, a furrow irrigation system, a center pivot irrigation system, an irrigation system based on crop protection sprayers, a vehicle-based irrigation system, and/or a subsurface irrigation system.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the fertilizer is a nitrogen containing fertilizer.

Description

EXAMPLE 1

[0161] For each test, three 500 ml plastic bottles were filled with 100 g of air dried soil each. Soil was moistened with deionized water to 50% of its water holding capacity. Then, the soil was incubated for two weeks at 20° C. to activate the microbial biomass. Ammonium sulfate was dissolved in deionized water in an amount corresponding to a nitrogen concentration of 10 g/L and supplemented by the desired amount of nitrogen inhibitor in an amount given in table 1. To each bottle 1 ml of the test solution was added by dripping the test solution with a pipette to the soil to simulate drop irrigation. Bottles were loosely capped to avoid contamination by dirt but to allow air exchange. The bottles were incubated at 20° C. for 0 to 42 days.

[0162] For determining the nitrogen content in the soil after incubation, to each bottle 300 mL of a 1% by weight solution of potassium sulfate in deionized water was added and the bottle was shaken for 2 h in a horizontal shaker at 150 rpm. Then the whole content of the bottle was filtered through a paper filter (MN 807 of Macherey-Nagel) and the filtrate was analyzed photometrically at 550 nm with respect to ammonium and nitrate by means of an auto analyzer AA11 of Merck.

[0163] Inhibition of nitrification was calculated by the following equation 1 (Bohland equation, DD 123771):

[00001]$\begin{array}{cc}\%\mathrm{inhibition}=\frac{N\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)1-N\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)2}{N\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)1-N\left({\mathrm{NO}}_3\right)3}\times 100& \left(1\right)\end{array}$

[0164] N (NO.sub.3) 1=Concentration of nitrogen contributed by NO.sub.3 without NI at the end of incubation

[0165] N (NO.sub.3) 2=Concentration of nitrogen contributed by NO.sub.3 with NI at the end of incubation

[0166] N (NO.sub.3) 2=Concentration of nitrogen contributed by NO.sub.3 at the beginning of incubation

[0167] The Examples were carried out in two separate series 1 and 2. The results of the first and second series are summarized in the following tables 1 and 2. All results are averages of 3 replications.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 4 NH.sub.4 recovery and nitrification inhibition (first series) % NH.sub.4 recovery of applied NH.sub.4 % nitrification inhibition NI NI/N (NH.sub.4).sup.1 DAT14 DAT28 DAT42 DAT14 DAT28 DAT42 — 0      2  0  0  0  0  0 DMPSA 0.8% 82 48 27 74 59 34 DCD  10% 63 13  0 59 15  3 Nitrapyrin 0.8% 31 3  0 33  4 −2 1) NI/N (NH.sub.4): weight ratio of nitrogen inhibitor to nitrogen contributed by ammonium sulfate 2) calculated according to equation 1

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 NH.sub.4 recovery and nitrification inhibition (second series) % NH.sub.4 recovery of applied NH.sub.4 % nitrification inhibition NI NI/N (NH.sub.4) DAT7 DAT14 DAT28 DAT42 DAT7 DAT14 DAT28 DAT42 — 0     33  6  0  1  0  0  0  0 DMPP 0.8% 75 71 64 66 70 76 66 61 DMPSA 0.4% 82 73 61 63 76 75 66 56 1) NI/N (NH.sub.4): weight ratio of nitrogen inhibitor to nitrogen contributed by ammonium sulfate 2) calculated according to equation 1

[0168] The results show that DMPSA provides for longer and stronger inhibition of nitrification in drip irrigation compared to DCD and Nitrapyrin. The results also show that DMPSA is almost twice effective as DMPP and thus only half amount of DMPSA is required to achieve comparable nitrification inhibition.

EXAMPLE 2

[0169] 100 g of air dried soil was filled in a 150 mL free draining column made of glass. Soil was moistened with deionized water to 50% of its water holding capacity. Then, the filled column was incubated for 24 h at 20° C. A solution of ammonium sulfate and optionally the nitrogen inhibitor in deionized water was deposited on the soil by means of a pipette to simulate drip irrigation. The amount of ammonium sulfate corresponds to 90 mg of nitrogen (N). The columns were then incubated for 9 days at 20° C. Then, deionized water was dripped to the soil corresponding to a precipitation of about 43 mm. Thereafter, the water was removed from the soil by applying a negative pressure until the moisture in the soil was 50% of its water holding capacity. The removed water (percolate) was collected and analyzed with regard to the total quantity of inorganic nitrogen (NH.sub.4 and NO.sub.3) as described for example 1. Since NH.sub.4 is more strongly bound to the soil compared to NO.sub.3 a lower nitrogen value indicates a better inhibition of nitrification. The results are summarized in table 3:

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Results of the leaching experiment AS [mg N] .sup.1) NI NI/N (NH.sub.4) .sup.2) Total N .sup.3) [mg] 0 — 0 0.2 90 — 0 9.2 90 DMPP 0.8% 6.3 90 DMPSA 0.8% 6.0 90 Nitrapyrin 0.8% 7.1 90 Triazole + 3 MP 0.8% 6.6 .sup.1) amount of nitrogen initially added as ammonium sulfate .sup.2) NI/N (NH.sub.4): weight ratio of nitrogen inhibitor to nitrogen contributed by ammonium sulfate .sup.3) total quantity of inorganic nitrogen (NH.sub.4 and NO.sub.3)