WO2011109855A1

WO2011109855A1 - Improvements in pesticides and fungicides

Info

Publication number: WO2011109855A1
Application number: PCT/AU2010/000277
Authority: WO
Inventors: Von Walter Johnson; Hugh Frith
Original assignee: Biofirst Pty Limited
Priority date: 2010-03-10
Filing date: 2010-03-10
Publication date: 2011-09-15

Abstract

Described herein is a pesticidal composition having raw cottonseed oil as the active ingredient and a suitable surfactant has both fungicidal and insecticidal activities. The composition is effective in the eradication, elimination, removal and/or reduction of pests such as soft-bodied insects and/or fungi which may damage, impair or otherwise reduce growth or growth rate of plants, for example, trees, vines as well as other suitable fruit-bearing and/or vegetable-bearing plants and/or cereal crops.

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN PESTICIDES AND FUNGICIDES

The present application claims priority to and benefits of the following; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial Number 61/209,442 entitled "Improvements In Pesticides & Fungicides", filed 6 March 2009.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

While many natural oils are known to have insecticidal properties, they cannot be applied to growing plants due to phytotoxicity. Specifically while many natural oils show insecticidal activity, in general the concentration of the oil necessary to achieve satisfactory bioefficacy against targetted insects is so high that a side effect of the administration of the insecticidal composition with a natural oil as the active ingredient is phytotoxicity on surrounding plants. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, this means that such natural oil active ingredient insecticides or pesticides are not suitable for use when the infestation is on or near plant life

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of treating a soft-bodied insect infestation comprising providing an insecticidal composition having as the active ingredient crude cottonseed oil and applying the composition to the soil surface or the soil surrounding the vines in an orchard or vineyard during the dormant season or at budburst.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an insecticidal and fungicidal composition comprising as the active ingredient crude cottonseed oil and a suitable surfactant.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a pesticide compostition comrising an active ingredient, wherein the active ingredient of the pesticide composition comprises crude cottonseed oil and a suitable surfactant. In a preferred embodiment, the pesticide composition comprises a concentrated mixture of the crude cottonseed oil and the suitable surfactant. In a more preferred embodiment, the concentrated mixture comprises the crude cottonseed oil at a concentration of between 80-95% and the suitable surfactant at a concentration of between 5-20%. In a yet more preferred embodiment, the concentrated mixture comprises the crude cottonseed oil at a concentration of between 85-90% and the suitable surfactant at a concentration of between 10-15%. In another preferred embodiment the crude cottonseed oil is unrefined and comprises not more than 2% free fatty acids. In another preferred embodiment the pesticide comprises insecticidal activity. In a more preferred embodiment the insecticidal activity comprises at feast 75% mortality after treatment of an insect population with the pesticide after 48 hours (2 days). In another more preferred embodiment the insecticidal activity comprises 100% mortality after treatment of an insect population with the pesticide after 120 hours (5 days). In another preferred embodiment, the pesticide composition has no phytotoxic activity.

In another preferred embodiment the pesticide comprises fungicidal activity. In a more preferred embodiment the fungicidal activity comprises eradication of a fungus after treatment of the fungus with the pesticide and wherein the pesticide comprises at least 0.1 % crude cottonseed oil.

In another embodiment, the invention provides a pesticide composition comprising a concentrated mixture of the crude cottonseed oil and the suitable surfactant and a suitable diluent. In a more preferred embodiment the pesticide composition comprises the concentrated mixture at a concentration of between 0.1- 10% and the suitable diluent at a concentration of between 90-99.9%. In a yet more preferred embodiment, the suitable diluent is an aqueous solvent. In a most preferred embodiment, the suitable diluent is water. In another preferred embodiment the crude cottonseed oil is unrefined and comprises not more than 2% free fatty acids.

The invention also provides a method of treating a soft-bodied insect infestation comprising the steps of (i) providing the pesticide composition disclosed herein; and (i^"i) applying the pesticide composition to a soil surface or a soil surrounding a plant. In a more preferred embodiment the plant comprises a vine in an orchard or vineyard during the dormant season or at budburst. In another preferred embodiment the method of treating results in at least 75% mortality of the soft-bodied insect infestation. In another preferred embodiment the method of treating results in improved plant yield.

The invention also provides a method of treating a fungal infestation comprising the steps of (i) providing the pesticide composition disclosed herein; and (ii) applying the pesticide composition to a soil surface or a surface of a plant. In a preferred embodiment the plant comprises a vine in an orchard or vineyard during the dormant season or at budburst. In a preferred embodiment, the method of treating results in reduction of the fungal infestation. In a more preferred embodiment the method of treating results in eradication of the fungal infestation. In another preferred embodiment the method of treating results in improved plant yield.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, the preferred methods and materials are now described but are not meant to limit the scope of the invention. All publications mentioned hereunder are incorporated herein by reference.

Described herein is a composition comprising raw cotton seed oil and a suitable surfactant. The composition may be prepared as a concentrate and then diluted into a suitable diluent prior to use or may be prepared directly at the desired concentration of active ingredient (raw cottonseed oil), as discussed herein.

As discussed above, many oils have insecticidal activity but these oils are not suitable for use in treating plants infested or infected with the insects because the large amount of oil needed to be applied to achieve satisfactory bioefficacy against the insects typically leads to phototoxicity on the plants. In general, such oils have been added as adjuvants and/or vehicles to pesticides in purified or partially-purified (refined) compositions.

However, the inventors have made the surprising discovery that crude or raw cottonseed oil can be applied for example as an oil in water emulsion to plants and acts as an effective insecticide, fungicide and/or pesticide without significant phytotoxicity to the plants. This would not have been predicted by one of skill in the art at the time the discovery was made nor could have been predicted by knowledge of the literature or of the chemistry. Therefore, the discovery that crude or raw cottonseed oil has pesticidal activity contributes to an improvement over the prior art.

Specifically, as discussed herein, the raw or crude cottonseed oil composition has both fungicidal and insecticidal activities. Accordingly, the composition is also referred to herein as a pesticidal composition in that it is effective in the eradication, elimination, removal and/or reduction of pests such as soft-bodied insects and/or fungi which may damage, impair or otherwise reduce growth or growth rate of plants, for example, trees, vines as well as other suitable fruit-bearing and/or vegetable-bearing plants and/or cereal crops. As used herein, the term "insecticide" includes active compositions that are used to eradicate other arthropods, including Acari (mites) and the like.

In a preferred embodiment, the pesticidal or insecticidal composition comprises a mixture of crude cottonseed oil and a suitable surfactant that may be prepared directly at the desired concentration or as a concentrate which is then diluted as discussed herein prior to application. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, suitable surfactants can be determined through routine experimentation. Exemplary suitable surfactants may include but are by no means limited to Polysorbate 80 (Tween80) and Castor Oil Ethoxylate (Alkamus OR36). The suitable surfactants may be non-ionic, anionic, cationic or amphoteric. Suitable surfactants that may be contained in the liquid formulations of the invention are disclosed, e.g. in "McCutcheon's Detergents and Emulsifiers Annual", MC Publishing Corp. , Ridgewood, N.J., USA 1981 ; H. Stache, "Tensid-Taschenbuch", 2^nd ed., C. Hanser, Munich, Vienna, 1981 ; M. and J. Ash, "Encyclopedia of Surfactants", vol. I-III, Chemical Publishing Co., New York, N.Y., USA 1980-1981. In addition, Iskander et al. and Arbogast et a!. disclose novel suitable surfactants in U.S. Patent Application Number 2010/0029483 A1 , published February 4, 2010 and 2009/0186761 A1 ; published July 23, 2009, respectively.

In some embodiments, the concentrated mixture comprises 80-95% crude cotton seed oil as active ingredient and 5-20% surfactant. In other embodiments, the concentrated mixture comprises 85-90% crude cottonseed oil as active ingredient and 10-1 5% surfactant. The concentrated mixture is then diluted to the desired concentration of active ingredient as discussed herein, for example, 0.1-10%, 1-10%, 0.1-6%, 1-6%, 1-3%, or the like. Such diluents may comprise water, an aqueous solvent, other aqueous compositions, organic solvents, and any mixtures thereof.

In alternative embodiments, the insecticidal or pesticidal composition is prepared directly, for example, by mixing the crude cottonseed oil and the suitable surfactant with water at the desired concentrations, for example but by no means limited to 0.1-10%, 1 -10%, 0.1-6%, 1-6%, 1-3%, or the like. Exemplary concentrations of the crude cottonseed oil and/or the suitable surfactant can be about 0.1 %, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5%, 0.6%, 0.7%, 0.8%, 0.9%, 1.0%, 1.1 %, 1.2%, 1.3%, 1 .4%, 1.5%, 1.6%, 1.7%, 1.8%, 1.9%, 2%, 2.25%, 2.5%, 2.75%, 3%, 3.5%, 4%, 4.5%, 5%, 5.5%, 6%, 6.5%, 7%, 7.5%, 8%, 8.5%, 9%, 9.5%, and about 10%.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the amount of suitable surfactant used in the composition will depend on the surfactant selected and/or on the amount of raw cottonseed oil used in the composition. It is held that such variations are within the routine skill of one of knowledge in the art.

In a preferred embodiment, the crude cottonseed oil is obtained from the production of industrial grade cottonseed flours.

In another preferred embodiment, the crude cottonseed oil is, for example, PRO FLO OIL.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, raw or crude (which are used interchangeably herein) cottonseed oil has less than 2% of free fatty acid. Furthermore, since the oil is a crude vegetable oil and not refined (unrefined), none of the free fatty acids, lipids, phosphatides, glycerides, tocopherols or other minor constituents have been removed from the oil. Furthermore, agents such as caustic soda, bleaching clays or soda ash have not been added to the crude cottonseed oil as is the case with refined oils. It is of note that such treatment may remove or modified above mentioned constituents which are naturally present. While not wishing to be bound to a particular hypothesis or theory, the inventors believe that the pesticidal composition as defined herein has efficacy because it can be applied such that the target leaf, vine, stalk, cane or ground area has full spray coverage (for example, using an air blast or similar spray equipment) at a concentration or volume such that any pests such as fungi and/or soft-bodied insects are covered or substantially coated or coated in the pesticidal composition, that is, the raw cottonseed composition without substantial phytotoxicity to the plant associated with the leaf and/or vine. For example, when applied to infestations of soft- bodied insects or arthropods such as for example but by no means limited to mites, aphids, whitefly, thrips, Psyllid, Phylloxera, cut worms, apple weevils, mealy bugs, and light brown apple moth, it is believed that the composition coats the adult insect and/or iarvae, effectively smothering the insect and/or larvae, as discussed below. When applied to fungal infestations, for example, Downey Mildew, Black Spot, Botrytis, Powdery Mildew and the like, the composition acts as a protectant on leaf surfaces by acting as a barrier that stops germinating spores, eradicates active growing mycelium for example by lifting and/or removing mycelium from the leaf and also suffocates the mycelium and germinating spores. As discussed herein, this is possible because of the surprising lack of phytotoxicity of raw cottonseed oil when prepared and applied as described herein.

It is of note that once the mycelium has been removed or lifted from a leaf, the leaf appears to repair itself as evidenced by the disappearance of yellow necrotic spots which indicates that new chloroplasts are forming within the leaf allowing for photosynthesis and a return of green color.

In one embodiment of the invention, an insecticidal or pesticidal composition is prepared by first preparing a solution of 90% raw cotton seed extract and 10% Tween80 which is then added at between 6% to 94% water (5,4% active).

In another embodiment of the invention, an insecticidal composition is prepared by preparing a solution of 85% raw cotton seed oil plus 15% Alkamus OR36 which is then added at between 6% to 94% water (5.1 % active).

In other exemplary embodiments, the insecticidal composition comprises about 6%_, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 12.5%, 5%, 17.5%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, and 94% water.

As can be seen, in several of these embodiments, a concentrated mixture is diluted in water. However, as discussed above, this is not necessarily an essential aspect of the invention.

As discussed herein, the composition as described above acts as an insecticide against 'soft-body' insects at instar (immaturity stage) or at adult stage of their life cycles.

Insects and arthropods treatable using the described compositions include but are by no means limited to mites, aphids, whitefly, thrips, Psyllid, Phylloxera, cut worms, apple weevils, mealy bugs, and light brown appie moth. As discussed above, the composition unexpectedly has these useful insecticidal properties in the absence of significant phytotoxicity as discussed herein.

In one preferred embodiment, the pesticide is an insectide having insecticidal activity of at least 75% mortality after treatment of an insect population or infestation with the pesticide after 48 hours. In another preferred embodiment, the pesticide is an insectide having insecticidal activity of 00% mortality after treatment of an insect population or infestation with the pesticide after 120 hours (5 days). The insecticidal activity can be for example, but not limited to, insect mortality of 75%, 77.5%, 80%, 82.5%, 85%, 87.5%, 90%, 92.5%, 95%, 97.5%, and 100%, or any percentage therebetween after treatment with the pesticide for between 2 and 5 days. In a preferred embodiment, the insect population or infestation comprises soft-bodied insects.

In a preferred embodiment, the composition is applied to the soil surface or the soil surrounding the vines in an orchard or vineyard or to the stalks, leaves or vines themselves during the dormant season or at budburst. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the use of the composition eliminates the need for significant spraying after fruit set or flowering. However, the composition can also be applied close to harvest or at any other suitable time if necessary and/or desirable.

In a preferred embodiment, there is provided a method of treating a soft-bodied insect infestation comprising providing an insecticidal composition having as the active ingredient crude cottonseed oil and applying the composition to the soil surface or the soil surrounding the vines in an orchard or vineyard during the dormant season or at budburst. In a preferred embodiment, the composition is applied such that the insects to be treated are coated in the composition. Suitable arthropods and insects to be treated by this method include but are by no means limited to mites, aphids, whitefly, thrips, Psyllid, Phylloxera, cut worms, apple weevils, and light brown apple moth. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the use of the composition eliminates the need for significant spraying after fruit set or flowering. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art and knowledgeable in the field, application of chemical agents following fruit set and/or flowering can result in residual problems with the crop, for example but by no means limited to reduced size, reduced quality and the like.

For example, Western flower thrip is resistant to all known pesticides on the market; however, the pesticide described herein will control western fly thrip at immature and adult stage as it is soft bodied. This pest is of economic importance on all horticulture crops.

Phylloxera is a small aphid-like insect which lives on vine roots and spreads in summer when cracks in the soil appear and the insect moves from root system to root system. Accordingly, application of the composition to the soil prior to bud burst will reduce the levels of this insect, thereby improving growth or growth rate of the vines compared to untreated vines of similar age and condition.

Cut worms grow from larvae which reside approximately 1 cm below the soil and move up the vine trunks. Similar to cut worms, apple weevils also move up the vine trunk. Accordingly, application of the composition as described above to the vines as discussed herein will reduce the levels of cut worms, apple weevils and the like in the orchard or vineyard, thereby improving yield, that is, the size and/or quantity of fruit per tree for example.

The light brown apple moth overwinters on organic matter and broad leaf plants growing on the vineyard floor which means that these insects can also be eradicated pre-budburst, as discussed herein.

As discussed herein, the composition also has significant fungicidal activity. Accordingly, the composition can also be used to reduce the occurrence of many fungi, for example, but by no means limited to: Downey Mildew which overwinters on the ground under vines; Black Spot which survives overwinter in cankers on canes left on the vineyard floor; Botrytis which overwinters on Bottrytis 'mummies' (dried bunches) and mouldy bunches left on vines after harvest; and Powdery Mildew which overwinters on the canes on vines and is 'activated' by rainfall and/or humid weather over a 24 hour period after budburst.

In a preferred embodiment, the raw cottonseed oil comprises PRO FLO OIL.

PRO FLO OIL is obtained from the production of industrial grade cottonseed flours. The oil's free fatty acid content can be less than about 2% (typically 1.6%). For example, the oil's free fatty acid content may be about 0.01%, 0.02%, 0.03%, 0.04%, 0.05%, 0.06%, 0.07%, 0.08%, 0.09%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5%, 0.6%, 0.7%, 0.8%, 0.9%, 1.0%, 1.1 %, 1.2%, 1.3%, 1.4%, 1.5%, 1.6%, 1.7%, 1.8%, 1.9%, or about 2%. Since ProFlo Oil is a crude vegetable oil and is not refined, none of the free fatty acids, lipids, phosphatides, glycerides, tocopherols and other minor constituents have been removed. Furthermore, caustic soda, bleaching clays and soda ash have not been added to the oil as is the case with refined oils.

Accordingly, the crude cottonseed oil may be characterized in that it has less than 2% free fatty acid and that none of the free fatty acids, lipids, phosphatides, glycerides, tocopherols or other minor constituents have been removed. Yet further, the crude cottonseed oil is characterized in that it has not been treated with caustic soda, bleaching clays or soda ash.

The crude cottonseed oil, for example, PRO FLO OIL is considerably more resistant to oxidation than refined oil. This remarkable stability is due to the presence of natural antioxidants.

The invention will now be described by way of examples; however, the invention is not necessarily limited by the examples. EXAMPLE 1 - Hand sprayed trial

2 ml of 1% water agar was placed in the base of Petri dishes (50 X 9 mm) and a 50 mm leaf disc of either bean, tomato, or Asian brassica (Table 1) placed ventral side up on top of the agar. Approximately 10 individuals of all the mobile stages of the arthropod insects tested were placed on the leaf disc and covered with a vented lid. The whitefly and psyllid adults were anaesthetised with C0₂ before spraying. For the immobile whitefly puparia, 50 mm leaf discs were cut from tobacco plants infested with whitefly puparia and the numbers of puparia varied in each Petri dish, Table 1: The stages of the seven arthropod species with leaf disc plant type to be sprayed with the cottonseed organic insecticide (referred to herein as SBI)

Common name Scientific name Stage Leaf disc

Greenhouse whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum adults bean

puparia tobacco

Onion thrips Thrips tabaci adults bean

Potato/tomato psyllid Bactericera cockerelli adults tomato

larvae tomato

Green peach aphid Myzus persicae adults Asian brassica

Two spotted mite Tetranychus urticae adults bean

Longtailed mealy bug Pseudococcus longispinus adults bean

Dtamondback moth Piute I la xylostella larvae Asian brassica

The infested Petri dishes were sprayed by a hand held sprayer to run off. There were two treatments: an organic insecticide prepared as described above (SBI) sprayed at the rate as supplied by the inventors herein and a water sprayed controf. There were 4 replicates for each treatment and insect stage. After 24 hours, because of the high levels of condensation the lids were removed and the Petri dishes inverted on paper towels. The number of dead mobile stages were assessed after 48 hours. The whitefly puparia were assessed by comparing the number of aduit whitefly emerged from the sprayed puparia after 5 days. Moribund individuals (arthropods that were still alive but unable to walk or feed) were counted as dead.

The greenhouse whitefly, thrips, green peach aphid, onion thrips, two spotted mite, potato/tomato psyllid and diamondback moth were obtained from colonies maintained by Crop & Food Research. The longtailed mealy bugs were sourced from an infested cycad plant,

EXAMPLE 2 - Potter sprav tower trials

Due to the difficulty of obtaining complete coverage of the leaf disc without resulting in excessive liquid on the leaf surface using the hand sprayer, additional unrepficated tests were undertaken using the Potter spray tower. The Potter spray tower is designed to deliver a standard, even and repeatable spray application. A single Petri dish with each of the test organisms was sprayed with the standard dose of 2 mis of spray solution and mortality assessed after 48 hours.

In a second Potter spray tower test Petri dishes with ten green peach aphids were sprayed at using 2, 5, 10, and 20 mi of spray solution and the mortality assessed after 48 hours. EXAMPLE 3 - Results of Trials and Discussion

1) Hand sprayed trial

As can be seen from the data, these tests indicate that the above-described composition (SBl) is an effective broad spectrum insecticide giving control of a wide range of insect and mite pests. Spraying with SBl gave mortality between 89.2 and 100% for the 7 arthropod pest species tested after 48 hours (Table 2). It also gave effective control of whitefly puparta with 94% mortality (only 6% of the sprayed puparia emerged as adults) after 5 days (Table 3). Often the individuals that did survive the SBl application were located around the edge of the Petri dish where it was difficult to achieve complete spray coverage.

Mortality in the water sprayed control treatment was below 10% except for whitefly and thrips adults. The wings of the dead whitefly adults appeared to be stuck to the hooked leaf hairs of the beans and in future tests a smoother leaf type should be selected. The adult thrips appear to have drowned in the high volume of water that was applied. Some of the insects took a long time to die although they were clearly moribund. This was especially the case for the Diamondback moth caterpillars (see also Table 6).

No phytotoxicity was observed on any of the leaf discs of bean, tomato, Asian brassica or tobacco, as discussed herein.

Assessment after 5 days indicated that the individuals assessed as moribund after 48 hours had died (Table 3).

2) Potter spray tower tests

When the selected arthropods were sprayed with the Potter spray tower using the standard volume of 2 ml of solution the mortality was much lower than in the hand sprayed tests where a higher volume of spay solution was applied (Table 4). This indicates that to be effective SBI may have to be applied at higher volumes than conventional insecticides. However, as discussed herein, this can be done due to the absence of phytotoxicity.

Specifically, the composition has very little to practically nil phytotoxicity and has better bioefficacy compared to other soap based insecticides.

There was high mortality with some of the pest species such as two spotted mite, adult whitefly and aphids but the results were less satisfactory for psyllids, diamond-back moth (DBM) caterpillars and mealy bugs, This indicates that the volume of SB! applied to give effective control may vary between pest species but such routine optimization is well within the skill of one of knowledge in the art.

Tests using the green peach aphid sprayed with a range of volumes indicate that 5 ml is required to be delivered through the Potter spay tower to give 100% mortality of aphids after 48 hours (Table 5).

Additional results are disclosed in Tables 6, 7, 8, and 9. The results show that the pesticide has insecticidal activity of at least 89.19% insect mortality 48 hours (two days) following treatment and up to 100% insect mortality 120 hours (five days) following treatment. Table 6 does not include results for the treatment of Whitefly puparia as the results are shown in Table 7. Table 7 does not include results for the tteatetment of Whitefly adults, Psyliid adults, Diamondback moth (DBM) larvae, Two spotted mite adults, and Thrips adults, as these insects or acari were completely or nearly completely eradicated by the treatment after only two days.

3) Conclusions

As noted above, these tests indicate that the SBI is an effective broad spectrum insecticide giving control of a wide range of soft-bodied insect. It also gave good control of two-spotted mite even when sprayed with conventional volumes.

For most insect pests the composition is applied at higher volumes than conventional pesticides as the insects must be completely covered in the spray of the composition in order to provide effective control. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art and as discussed above, the volume of spray applied may vary with the target pest. Surprisingly, no phototoxicity was observed during the trials even when the composition was applied to "run-off'.

EXAMPLE 3 - Powdery Mildew

The above described composition was applied to plants infected with powdery mildew at a variety of percentages: 1% (1 g SBI (crude cottonseed oil), 0.5 g Tween surfactant, 98.5 g water), 2% (2g SBI, 0.5 g Tween surfactant, 97.5 g water), 3% (3 g

SBI, 1 g Tween surfactant, 96 g water), 4% (4 g SBI, 1 g Tween surfactant, 95 g water), 5% (5 g SBI, 2 g Tween surfactant, 94 g water) and 6% (6 g SBI, 2 g Tween surfactant, 92 g water).

The results demonstrated that the above-described pesticidal (fungicidal) composition had commercially viable activity at 1 % SBI and was able to reduce and/or eradicate Powdery Mildew infection. Surprisingly, the inventors have found that rates lower than 1 %, for example, as low as 0.1% active ingredient (raw cottonseed oil) has activity against Powdery Mildew. This observation is clearly an unexpectedly superior result.

The results indicated that the pestidical composition, which is an oil based product, as discussed herein, acts as a barrier to fungal infections, for example, Powdery Mildew infection by protecting the plant from Powdery Mildew infection as well as be eradicating or otherwise removing Powdery Mildew on infected leaves. It is noted that these results indicate that the composition will be effective at treating other fungi having a similar life cycle, that is, fungi that infect or infest plants in a simj!ar or analogous manner.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above, it will be recognized and understood that various modifications may be made therein, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications which may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

claim:

1. A pesticide composition comprising an active ingredient, wherein the active ingredient of the pesticide composition comprises crude cottonseed oil and a suitable surfactant.

2. The pesticide composition of claim 1 , wherein the pesticide composition comprises a concentrated mixture of the crude cottonseed oil and the suitable surfactant.

3. The pesticide composition of claim 2, wherein the concentrated mixture comprises the crude cottonseed oil at a concentration of between 80-95% and the suitable surfactant at a concentration ofbetween 5-20%.

4. The pesticide composition of claim 3, wherein the concentrated mixture comprises the crude cottonseed oil at a concentration of between 85-90% and the suitable surfactant at a concentration of between 10-15%.

5. The pesticide composition of claim 1, wherein the pesticide composition further comprises a concentrated mixture of the crude cottonseed oil and the suitable surfactant and a suitable diluent.

6. The pesticide composition of claim 5 wherein the pesticide composition comprises the concentrated mixture at a concentration of between 0.1-10% and the suitable diluent at a concentration of between 90-99.9%.

7. The pesticide composition of claim 5, wherein the suitable diluent is an aqueous solvent.

8. The pesticide composition of claim , wherein the crude cottonseed oil is unrefined and comprises not more than 2% free fatty acids.

9. The pesticide of claim 1, the pesticide having insecticidal activity.

10. The pesticide of claim 9, wherein the insecticidal activity comprises at least 75% mortality after treatment of an insect population with the pesticide after 48 hours.

11. The pesticide of claim 9, wherein the insecticidal activity comprises 100% mortality after treatment of an insect population with the pesticide after 120 hours.

12. The pesticide of claim 1, the pesticide having fungicidal activity.

13. The pesticide of claim 12, wherein the fungicidal activity comprises eradication of a fungus after treatment of the fungus with the pesticide and wherein the pesticide comprises at least 0.1% crude cottonseed oil.

14. A method of treating a soft-bodied insect infestation comprising the steps of (i) providing the pesticide composition of claim 1 ; and (ii) applying the pesticide composition to a soil surface or a soil surrounding a plant.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the plant comprises a vine in an orchard or vineyard during the dormant season or at budburst.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the treating results in at least 75% mortality of the soft-bodied insect infestation.

17. A method of treating a soft-bodied insect infestation comprising (i) providing an insecticidal composition having as the active ingredient crude cottonseed oil and (ii) applying the composition to a soil surface or a soil surrounding vines in an orchard or vineyard during the dormant season or at budburst.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the insecticidal composition further comprises a concentrated mixture of the crude cottonseed oil and a suitable surfactant and a suitable diluent, wherein the concentrated mixture is at a concentration of between 0.1-10% and the suitable diluent is at a concentration of between 90-99.9%.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the crude cottonseed oil is unrefined and comprises not more than 2% free fatty acids.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the treating results in at least 75% mortality of the soft-bodied insect infestation.