Plant treatment composition

Abstract

A plant treatment composition comprising: an aqueous phase comprising a plant nutrient; and an organic phase comprising a substituted urea or substituted thiourea compound, dissolved in an organic solvent; and an emulsifier; wherein the composition is in the form of an emulsion having droplets of the organic phase dispersed in the aqueous phase.

Claims

1. A plant treatment composition comprising: an aqueous phase comprising a plant nutrient; an organic phase comprising a substituted urea compound, dissolved in an organic solvent; and an emulsifier comprising an ethoxylated coco amine, where the ethoxylated chain length is in a range of 8 to 15 and/or an ethoxylated isotridecyl alcohol; wherein the composition is at a pH of 1 to 4 and is in the form of an emulsion having droplets of the organic phase dispersed in the aqueous phase, the droplets having a size of less than 100 nm, wherein the plant nutrient is water soluble and dissolved in the aqueous phase; wherein the organic solvent has a solubility in water of less than 10 g/L and comprises or consists of capric acid dimethylamide, wherein the substituted urea compound is selected from diphenyl urea, 2-nitro diphenyl urea, mono- or di-methyl diphenyl urea, mono- or di-ethyl diphenyl urea and 1,3-diethyl-1,3-diphenyl urea, wherein the plant treatment composition comprises the substituted urea compound in a range of from 50 to 400 ppm, based on the total weight of the plant treatment composition, wherein the composition further comprises from 4% to 12% w/w calcium and from 0.1% to 5% w/w zinc, based on the total weight of the plant treatment composition, and wherein the emulsion remains homogeneous during two weeks of storage between −18 and +40° C.

2. The composition of claim 1 wherein the composition further comprises from 0.1% to 15% w/w magnesium, based on the total weight of the plant treatment composition.

3. The composition of claim 1, wherein the composition further comprises from 0.1 to 5% w/w iron, based on the total weight of the plant treatment composition.

4. The composition of claim 1, wherein the substituted urea compound is diphenyl urea (DPU).

5. The composition of claim 4 comprising from 4 to 6% w/w calcium in the aqueous phase based on the total weight of the composition and from 10 to 300 ppm diphenyl urea in the organic phase based on the total weight of the composition.

6. The composition of claim 4 comprising in the range of from 8 to 12% w/w calcium based on the total weight of the composition in the aqueous phase and in the range of from 10 to 300 ppm diphenyl urea based on the total weight of the composition in the organic phase.

7. The composition of claim 1, wherein the emulsion is a microemulsion.

8. The composition of claim 1, wherein the weight ratio of the aqueous phase to the organic phase is in a range of from 999:1 to 1:1 by weight.

9. A method of making the plant treatment composition according to claim 1, the method comprising dissolving the substituted urea in the organic solvent to form the organic phase; and dispersing droplets of the organic phase in the aqueous phase comprising a plant nutrient.

10. A method of enhancing crop yield in a plant, the method comprising exposing the plant to a composition according to claim 1.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the plant is a soybean plant.

12. A method of treating a plant, the method comprising applying a composition according to claim 1, or an aqueous dilution thereof, to the plant.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the composition or dilution is applied as a foliar spray.

Description

EXAMPLE 1

(1) Analysis: 5% w/w Ca, 100 ppm DPU Sample A: DPU (1 g) was dissolved in AGNIQUE® AMD10 (99 g) to give a 1% w/w solution of DPU. To the 1% w/w solution of DPU (30.5 g of) was added ATLOX® 4991 (45.8 g) to give a 0.4% w/w DPU concentrate.

(2) Sample B: A calcium nitrate/zinc nitrate base was made to the composition below:

(3) TABLE-US-00004 Component Mass/g Water 784.9 Zinc Oxide 16.5 Nitric acid (70%) 33.9 Citric acid 2.0 Calcium nitrate (industrial) 335 Molasses 10.1

(4) Calcium nitrate (Industrial) is industrial grade calcium nitrate fertiliser, which is a mix of calcium and ammonium nitrates containing approximately 18.6% w/w calcium.

(5) To make the finished formulation, Sample A (30 g) was added with stirring to Sample B (1186 g).

(6) Result: An emulsion was formed. However this formulation did not give complete stability (i.e. the solution was cloudy) and some phase separation occurred ° C.

EXAMPLE 2

(7) Analysis: 5% w/w Ca, 100 ppm DPU Sample C: DPU (0.12 g) was dissolved in AGNIQUE® AMD10 (11.88 g) and LUTENSOL® FA12K (18.0 g) to give a 0.4% w/w DPU concentrate.

(8) Sample D: A calcium nitrate/zinc nitrate base was made to the composition below:

(9) TABLE-US-00005 Component Mass/g Water 784.9 Zinc Oxide 16.5 Nitric acid (70%) 33.9 Citric acid 2.0 Calcium nitrate (industrial) 335 Molasses 10.1

(10) To make the finished formulation, Sample C (30 g) was added with stirring to Sample D (1186 g).

(11) Result: The finished formulation formed an emulsion, which remained clear and homogeneous after 2 weeks storage between +3° C. and +50° C.

EXAMPLE 3

(12) Analysis: 9.5% w/w Ca, 100 ppm DPU Sample E: DPU (1 g) was dissolved in AGNIQUE AMD10 (99 g) to give a 1% w/w solution of DPU. To the 1% w/w solution of DPU (30.5 g of) was added ATLOX® 4991 (45.8 g) to give a 0.4% w/w DPU concentrate.

(13) Sample F: A calcium nitrate/zinc nitrate base was made to the composition below:

(14) TABLE-US-00006 Component Mass/g Water 595 Zinc Oxide 14.3 Nitric acid (70%) 31.3 Calcium nitrate (industrial) 734.4 Molasses 7.0

(15) To make the finished formulation, Sample E (30 g) was added with stirring to Sample F (1382 g).

(16) Result: The finished formulation formed an emulsion, which remained homogeneous and almost clear during 2 weeks storage between −18 and +40° C.

EXAMPLE 4

(17) Analysis: 10.5% w/w Ca, 200 ppm DPU Sample G: DPU (0.8 g) was dissolved in AGNIQUE® AMD10 (39.2 g) and ATLOX® 4991 (60.0 g) to give a 0.8% w/w DPU concentrate.

(18) Sample H: A calcium nitrate/zinc nitrate base was made to the composition below:

(19) TABLE-US-00007 Component Mass/g Water 584 Zinc Oxide 14.3 Nitric acid (70%) 31.3 Calcium nitrate (industrial) 773.1 Molasses 7.0

(20) To make the finished formulation, Sample G (35.6 g) was added with stirring to Sample H (1408 g).

(21) Result: The finished formulation formed an emulsion, with the appearance of an almost clear, homogeneous liquid.

EXAMPLE 5

(22) Analysis: 9.5% Ca, 1% Mg, 200 ppm DPU Sample G: DPU (0.8 g) was dissolved in AGNIQUE® AMD10 (39.2 g) and ATLOX® 4991 (60.0 g) added to give a 0.8% w/w DPU concentrate.

(23) Sample I: A calcium nitrate/magnesium nitrate base was made to the composition below:

(24) TABLE-US-00008 Component Mass/g Water 520.7 Magnesium nitrate 149.8 hexahydrate Calcium nitrate (industrial) 717.5 Molasses 7.0

(25) To make the finished formulation 36.3 g of Sample G is added with stirring to 1395 g of Sample I. To this is added 0.6 g Antifoam Gen (a silicone emulsion made by Lambert S.p.A) and 4.5 g water.

(26) Result: The formulation formed an emulsion. Samples remain homogeneous and almost clear during 8 weeks storage between −18 and +40° C.

EXAMPLE 6

(27) Analysis: 10.5% Ca, 200 ppm DPU in 1-dodecyl-2-pyrrolidone Sample 3: DPU (0.8 g) is dissolved in 1-dodecyl-2-pyrrolidone (39.2 g) and ATLOX® 4991 (60.0 g) added to give a 0.8% w/w DPU concentrate.

(28) 35.6 g Sample J is added to 1409 g Sample H to give a slightly hazy, homogeneous emulsion. No changes were observed after 2 days storage at temperatures up to, and including, 50° C.

(29) Application to Plants

(30) The emulsions produced in Examples 1 to 6 will typically be applied to field crops such as soybean (Glycine max) as a foliar spray of an aqueous dilution, with a typical treatment rate of 0.5-1 litre per hectare.

(31) The crop yield is expected to be increased typically by 5% compared to untreated plants.

(32) Examples 4 to 6, comprising a higher concentration of DPU, can be expected to deliver an enhanced crop yield and/or a comparable crop yield at lower application rates, compared to Examples 1 to 3.