Growth enhancement of plant

Abstract

The present invention concerns a method to increase the growth of a plant by coating a seed of said plant with a composition comprising at least a cationic guar; notably permitting to develop its biomass and reach its maturity. The invention also concerns a seed coating composition used in such a method.

Claims

1. A method to increase the growth of a plant compared to a method not comprising coating a seed of said plant with a cationic guar, the method comprising coating a seed of said plant with a composition comprising at least a cationic guar, wherein the cationic guar comprises: (i) a Degree of Substitution comprised between 0.005 and 3, (ii) a charge density between 0.1 and 2 meq/g, or both (i) and (ii).

2. The method according to claim 1 comprising: a) coating the seed of said plant with the composition comprising the at least said cationic guar; and b) applying the coated seed onto or in soil.

3. The method according to claim 1 comprising: a) implanting a raw or non-coated seed in a hole in soil; and b) applying the composition comprising the at least said cationic guar into the hole to surround or partially surround the seed, thereby coating the seed.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the seed is selected from the group consisting of: corn, wheat, sorghum, soybean, tomato, cauliflower, radish, cabbage, canola, lettuce, rye grass, grass, rice, cotton, and sunflower.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein cationic guars are obtained by a process comprising a cationic etherifying agent.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein cationic guars are obtained by a process comprising quaternary ammonium salts as cationic etherifying agent.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the quaternary ammonium salts are selected from the group consisting of: 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, 2,3-epoxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, and diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein cationic guars are selected from the group consisting of cationic hydroxyalkyl guars and cationic carboxylalkyl guars.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein cationic guars are guars hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein cationic guars have an average Molecular Weight of between about 100,000 daltons and 3,500,000 daltons.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the composition further comprises a binder.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the composition further comprises an active ingredient.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the composition further comprises a plant biostimulant.

14. The method according to claim 8, wherein the cationic hydroxyalkyl guars comprise cationic hydroxyethyl guar (HE guar), cationic hydroxypropyl guar (HP guar), or cationic hydroxybutyl guar (HB guar).

15. The method according to claim 8, wherein the cationic carboxylalkyl guars comprise cationic carboxymethyl guar (CM guar), cationic alkylcarboxy guars, or carboxymethylhydroxypropyl guar (CMHP guar).

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein cationic alkylcarboxy guars comprise cationic carboxylpropyl guar (CP guar) or cationic carboxybutyl guar (CB guar).

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is compared to a method comprising coating a seed of said plant with a non-cationic guar.

Description

EXPERIMENTAL PART

(1) In these experiments, guar based additives are used accordingly:

(2) TABLE-US-00001 Guar DS Mw CD C1 Non cationic guar 0 2M 0 C2 Non cationic hydroxypropylether 0 2M 0 guar 1 Hydroxypropyl guar 0.10 1.5M.sup.  0.5 hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride 2 Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium 0.10-0.13 2M 0.6-0.7 Chloride 3 Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium 0.17-0.20 2M 0.9-1.1 Chloride

Example 1: Growth Enhancement on Chinese Cabbage

(3) Spraying with 0.4 wt % of aqueous solution of additives on the surface of Brassica chinensis seed (Chinese Cabbage), to obtain a weight ratio additive/seed of 0.2%. 50 g of soil in each pot are used; this soil coming from ShanXi province and belongs to clayey soil. The germination test is carried out under watering conditions of 10 mL water each 2 days, with a temperature is 25° C.

(4) TABLE-US-00002 Germination Germination Height Additive rate (3 days) rate (5 days) (5 days) C1/None - 34% 80% 2.4 cm control soil 1/Guar 1 56% 90% 2.9 cm

(5) Germination rate means the number of plant emerging out of soil in comparison with the number of all introduced in the soil. Height is the medium height of all plants in a set.

(6) It appears then not only the germination rate of the plant is increased in comparison with a blank treatment, but also the kinetic of the growth. Consequently, the germination occurs early and then let more time for the plant to grow up.

Example 2: Growth Enhancement on Wheat Seeds

(7) Spraying with 1 wt % of aqueous solution of additives on the surface of Wheat seeds, to obtain a weight ratio additive/seed of 0.4%. 900 g of soil in each pot are used; this soil coming from ShanXi province and belongs to clayey soil. The germination test is carried out under watering conditions of 10 mL water each 2 days, with a temperature is 25° C.

(8) TABLE-US-00003 Germination Germination Additive rate (4 days) rate (6 days) C1/None - 68% 89% control soil 1/Guar 1 81% 94%

(9) It appears then that the seed treatment of the present invention permits to increase the germination rate but also to boost the germination early in comparison with seeds that do not provide a coating treatment.

Example 3: Growth Enhancement on Wheat Seeds with Pesticide Treatment

(10) Spraying an aqueous solution comprising 0.4 wt % of Guar 1 and 0.4 wt % of tebuconazol additives on the surface of Wheat seeds, to obtain a weight ratio Guar 1/seed of 0.2% and tebuconazol/seed of 0.1%. 900 g of soil in each pot are used; this soil coming from ShanXi province and belongs to clayey soil. The germination test is carried out under watering conditions of 25 ml water each 2 days, with a temperature is 25° C.

(11) TABLE-US-00004 Germination Height Additive rate (36 days) (36 days) C1/None - 91% 13.6 cm  control soil C2/tebucanozol 47% 4.6 cm 1/tebucanozol 54% 6.9 cm and Guar 1

(12) It appears then not only the germination rate of the plant is increased in comparison with a blank treatment, but also the kinetic of the growth inducing an enhancement of the plant's height. It also appears that the presence of the cationic guar permit to partially decrease the detrimental effect of fungicide on germination rate and growth of the plant.

Example 4: Cationic Guars on Growth Enhancement of Wheat Seeds

(13) Spraying 0.4% additive solution on seed while stirring it. The additive/seed weight ratio is 0.2%. Drying the seed at room temperature for 5 days. Then planted them in ShanXi province's soil with 1 mm depth. The germination test is carried out under watering conditions of 2 mm/day, with a temperature of 25° C. for the night and 32° C. for the day.

(14) TABLE-US-00005 Germination Germination Height Additive rate (4 days) rate (7 days) (cm) 7 day C1/None - 60% 75% 8.6 cm control soil C2/Guar C1 65% 85% 9.1 cm C3/Guar C2 60% 75% 9.7 cm 1/Guar 1 85% 95% 13.7 cm 2/Guar 2 80% 95% 16 cm 3/Guar 3 80% 100%  11.9 cm

(15) It appears then not only the germination rate of the plant is increased in comparison with a blank treatment, but also the kinetic of the growth inducing an enhancement of the plant's height.

Example 5: Cationic Guars on Field Results

(16) Soybean seed was coated by powder additive with the help of binder. The additive/seed weight ratio is 0.2%. There were planted in field of d'Averdon in France.

(17) Trials with irrigation of 30 mm/time after an entire harvesting season. In addition to natural rainfall, each time the plant exhibited symptoms of lack of water, an irrigation of 30 mm was made to provide a sufficient irrigation.

(18) TABLE-US-00006 Weight of Average Additive 1000 grains root length Yield/plant C1/None - 509.1 g   17 cm 105 g control soil 1/Guar 1 562.6 g 20.4 cm 134 g

(19) Trials with irrigation of 15 mm/time after an entire harvesting season. In addition to natural rainfall, each time the plant exhibited symptoms of lack of water, an irrigation of 15 mm was made to provide an insufficient irrigation

(20) TABLE-US-00007 Weight of Average Additive 1000 grains root length Yield/plant C1/None - 457.4 g 16.4 cm 83 g control soil 1/Guar 1 560.2 g 26.4 cm 115 g 

(21) It appears then not only the germination rate of the plant is increased in comparison with a blank treatment, but also the number of pods, the weight of grains and size, the length of roots and the general yield of produced plants.