WO2023196694A1 - Compositions and methods for improving seed performance - Google Patents

Compositions and methods for improving seed performance Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2023196694A1
WO2023196694A1 PCT/US2023/060348 US2023060348W WO2023196694A1 WO 2023196694 A1 WO2023196694 A1 WO 2023196694A1 US 2023060348 W US2023060348 W US 2023060348W WO 2023196694 A1 WO2023196694 A1 WO 2023196694A1
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Prior art keywords
seed
weight
composition
performance composition
seed performance
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PCT/US2023/060348
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French (fr)
Inventor
Samuel L. Cloete
Heather LEWIS
Ahsan Habib
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Kannar Earth Science, Ltd.
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Publication of WO2023196694A1 publication Critical patent/WO2023196694A1/en

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    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01P—BIOCIDAL, PEST REPELLANT, PEST ATTRACTANT OR PLANT GROWTH REGULATORY ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR PREPARATIONS
    • A01P21/00—Plant growth regulators
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N37/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic compounds containing a carbon atom having three bonds to hetero atoms with at the most two bonds to halogen, e.g. carboxylic acids
    • A01N37/44—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic compounds containing a carbon atom having three bonds to hetero atoms with at the most two bonds to halogen, e.g. carboxylic acids containing at least one carboxylic group or a thio analogue, or a derivative thereof, and a nitrogen atom attached to the same carbon skeleton by a single or double bond, this nitrogen atom not being a member of a derivative or of a thio analogue of a carboxylic group, e.g. amino-carboxylic acids
    • A01N37/46—N-acyl derivatives
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N43/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds
    • A01N43/02—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms
    • A01N43/04—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms with one hetero atom
    • A01N43/06—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms with one hetero atom five-membered rings
    • A01N43/08—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms with one hetero atom five-membered rings with oxygen as the ring hetero atom
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N43/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds
    • A01N43/02—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms
    • A01N43/04—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms with one hetero atom
    • A01N43/14—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms with one hetero atom six-membered rings
    • A01N43/16—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms with one hetero atom six-membered rings with oxygen as the ring hetero atom
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N43/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds
    • A01N43/02—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms
    • A01N43/24—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms with two or more hetero atoms
    • A01N43/32—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one or more oxygen or sulfur atoms as the only ring hetero atoms with two or more hetero atoms six-membered rings
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N43/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds
    • A01N43/34—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one nitrogen atom as the only ring hetero atom
    • A01N43/36—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with one nitrogen atom as the only ring hetero atom five-membered rings
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N43/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds
    • A01N43/48—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with two nitrogen atoms as the only ring hetero atoms
    • A01N43/50—1,3-Diazoles; Hydrogenated 1,3-diazoles
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N43/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds
    • A01N43/48—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with two nitrogen atoms as the only ring hetero atoms
    • A01N43/54—1,3-Diazines; Hydrogenated 1,3-diazines
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N43/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds
    • A01N43/48—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with two nitrogen atoms as the only ring hetero atoms
    • A01N43/56—1,2-Diazoles; Hydrogenated 1,2-diazoles
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N43/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds
    • A01N43/64—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with three nitrogen atoms as the only ring hetero atoms
    • A01N43/647—Triazoles; Hydrogenated triazoles
    • A01N43/653—1,2,4-Triazoles; Hydrogenated 1,2,4-triazoles
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N43/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds
    • A01N43/72—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with nitrogen atoms and oxygen or sulfur atoms as ring hetero atoms
    • A01N43/74—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with nitrogen atoms and oxygen or sulfur atoms as ring hetero atoms five-membered rings with one nitrogen atom and either one oxygen atom or one sulfur atom in positions 1,3
    • A01N43/78—1,3-Thiazoles; Hydrogenated 1,3-thiazoles
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N47/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic compounds containing a carbon atom not being member of a ring and having no bond to a carbon or hydrogen atom, e.g. derivatives of carbonic acid
    • A01N47/08—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic compounds containing a carbon atom not being member of a ring and having no bond to a carbon or hydrogen atom, e.g. derivatives of carbonic acid the carbon atom having one or more single bonds to nitrogen atoms
    • A01N47/10—Carbamic acid derivatives, i.e. containing the group —O—CO—N<; Thio analogues thereof
    • A01N47/26—Oxidation products of dithiocarbamic acid derivatives, e.g. thiuram sulfides
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N47/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic compounds containing a carbon atom not being member of a ring and having no bond to a carbon or hydrogen atom, e.g. derivatives of carbonic acid
    • A01N47/08—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic compounds containing a carbon atom not being member of a ring and having no bond to a carbon or hydrogen atom, e.g. derivatives of carbonic acid the carbon atom having one or more single bonds to nitrogen atoms
    • A01N47/28—Ureas or thioureas containing the groups >N—CO—N< or >N—CS—N<
    • A01N47/34—Ureas or thioureas containing the groups >N—CO—N< or >N—CS—N< containing the groups, e.g. biuret; Thio analogues thereof; Urea-aldehyde condensation products
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N51/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic compounds having the sequences of atoms O—N—S, X—O—S, N—N—S, O—N—N or O-halogen, regardless of the number of bonds each atom has and with no atom of these sequences forming part of a heterocyclic ring
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N53/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing cyclopropane carboxylic acids or derivatives thereof
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
    • A01N65/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing material from algae, lichens, bryophyta, multi-cellular fungi or plants, or extracts thereof
    • A01N65/40—Liliopsida [monocotyledons]
    • A01N65/42—Aloeaceae [Aloe family] or Liliaceae [Lily family], e.g. aloe, veratrum, onion, garlic or chives
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01C—PLANTING; SOWING; FERTILISING
    • A01C1/00—Apparatus, or methods of use thereof, for testing or treating seed, roots, or the like, prior to sowing or planting
    • A01C1/06—Coating or dressing seed
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01C—PLANTING; SOWING; FERTILISING
    • A01C1/00—Apparatus, or methods of use thereof, for testing or treating seed, roots, or the like, prior to sowing or planting
    • A01C1/08—Immunising seed

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to seed treatment in agriculture with compositions that improve one or more metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
  • the improvement in seed performance is observed for pesticide treated seed, in which the pesticide treatment negatively impacts and/or slows down germination and early seedling growth.
  • pesticides are commonly used for the protection of economic crops from a variety of notorious pests.
  • repeated indiscriminate and rampant use and the persistence of certain pesticides often leads to accumulation of toxic compounds in soil, water, plants, and animals.
  • the present disclosure provides compositions and methods to counteract the negative growth effects of pesticide seed treatment.
  • a method of seed treatment includes applying a seed performance composition to a seed, wherein the seed performance composition includes: at least one antioxidant, at least one bio-stimulant and a carrier.
  • the seed performance composition improves one or more metric of the seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
  • the seed can have been previously treated with one or more pesticides or, alternatively, the method can include applying one or more pesticides to the seed concurrently with applying the seed performance composition.
  • the seed performance composition can be applied to the seed in the form of a flowable liquid.
  • the method can further include mixing, vibrating, or agitating the seed during the applying.
  • applying the seed performance composition to the seed includes application at a rate between about 1.000 Fl Oz/CWT to about 5.000 Fl Oz/CWT of seed.
  • the seed performance composition in another embodiment, includes at least one antioxidant, at least one bio- stimulant, and a carrier.
  • the seed performance composition after application to a seed improves one or more metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
  • the seed performance composition can further include one or more pesticides.
  • the seed performance composition can be formulated as a flowable liquid or a dry powder.
  • the at least one bio-stimulant can be vitamins, thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, amino acids, tryptophan, or aloe vera extract, and combinations thereof.
  • the carrier includes about 10-50% by weight of the seed performance composition.
  • the carrier can include hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), hydroxyethyl propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), quillaja extract, xanthan gum, corn starch, or yucca extract, and combinations thereof.
  • the seed performance composition can include about 0.5-2% by weight of the antioxidant, about 50.1 % by weight of the bio- stimulant, and the remainder by weight of the carrier.
  • the bio-stimulant can include vitamins, thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, amino acids, tryptophan, or aloe vera extract, and combinations thereof.
  • the antioxidant can include glutathione and the bio-stimulant can include thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, tryptophan, and aloe vera extract.
  • the seed performance composition can include about 0.5-2.0% by weight of glutathione, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of thiamine, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of a-tocopherol, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of ascorbate, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of tryptophan, about 50% by weight of aloe vera extract, and the remainder percent by weight of carrier.
  • plant seed coated with the seed performance composition of the present disclosure is provided.
  • the methods of the present disclosure include a method for improving seed performance that includes planting a seed coated with the seed performance composition of the present disclosure in a suitable growing medium.
  • the seed performance composition is present on the seed in an amount that improves at least one metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
  • a method for improving one or both of plant growth and health includes delivering to seed of a plant, roots of a plant, or soil or growth medium surrounding a plant, the seed performance composition of the present disclosure.
  • the seed performance composition is present in an amount that improves one or more metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
  • the seed or plant can include, but is not limited to, soybean, peanut, corn, cotton, pea, wheat, cereal, grass, oil, legumes, nonlegumes, or vegetable plants, and combinations thereof.
  • Figure 1 shows germinated corn seeds untreated (Control), treated with a base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem), and treated with the pesticides at the recommended rate (IX Chem).
  • Figure 2A shows germinated corn seeds untreated (Control).
  • Figure 2B shows germinated com seeds treated with a base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem).
  • Figure 2C shows germinated corn seeds treated with both a base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate and with a seed performance composition (2X Chem + Safener).
  • Figure 3 shows germinated black cotton seed untreated (Untreated), treated with a base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate (Chem), and treated with both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate and with a seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • Figure 4 shows germinated peanut seeds 20 days after planting treated with industry standard pesticides (Chem) or treated with both the industry standard pesticides and with a seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • Figure 5 shows germinated soybean seeds untreated (UNT), treated with a pesticide blend at the recommended rate (Chem), treated with the industry standard pesticide blend and a seed performance composition at half concentration (Chem + 0.5X Safener), and treated with the industry standard pesticide blend and a seed performance composition at full concentration (Chem + IX Safener).
  • Figure 6 shows soybean plants grown in a greenhouse in which seed was treated with both a pesticide blend and a seed performance composition on the left (Chem + Safener) or where the seed was treated with just the pesticide blend on the right (Chem).
  • Figure 7 is a graph showing average dry weight (DW) for the plants from the study described in Figure 6 after 12 days where “Base” represents seed treatment with just the pesticide blend and “Safener” represents seed treatment with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition.
  • Figure 8 shows spring wheat seedlings 5 days after plating in which seed was untreated (Untreated), treated with a standard industry pesticide blend (Chem), or treated with the standard industry pesticide blend in combination with a seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • Figure 9 is a graph showing the results on seed cotton yield in a field trial in which cotton seed was either treated only with the pesticide blend (Chem) or treated with the pesticide blend in addition to the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • the present invention is in some embodiments directed to a seed performance composition that, in one or more aspects, provides an enhancement in seed germination and early seedling growth through the reduction of negative impacts associated with pesticide overload and the boosting of antioxidant activity in seeds treated therewith.
  • a seed performance composition is provided that includes an antioxidant and several bio-stimulants in a liquid carrier.
  • the carrier can be a cellulose-based liquid carrier.
  • one embodiment can specifically comprise about 0.5-2% antioxidants by weight, about 50.1% bio- stimulants by weight, and the remainder by weight of the carrier. While specific ratios may be mentioned herein, these ratios only provide examples and the ratio for each of the elements of the composition may be varied in reference to each other. Seed performance compositions including antioxidants and bio-stimulants in a carrier is also referred to herein as pesticide overload protection.
  • the composition in one or more aspects, can be useful in enhancing growth in a variety of crop seeds.
  • crops seeds in which plant growth enhancement due to treatment with a composition of the present invention were investigated herein include soybean, cotton, peanut, wheat, and com as described in the Examples herein.
  • the present invention provides a seed performance composition, methods of treating seeds with the composition, and seeds produced as a result of such treatment methods.
  • the treated seed can include seed from plants such as soybean, peanut, corn, cotton, pea, wheat, cereal, grass, oil, legumes, non-legumes, or vegetable plants, and combinations thereof.
  • plants such as soybean, peanut, corn, cotton, pea, wheat, cereal, grass, oil, legumes, non-legumes, or vegetable plants, and combinations thereof.
  • other seed from additional unmentioned plants can also benefit from treatment according to the various embodiments herein.
  • a method for improving the ability of plant seeds to tolerate abiotic stress through application of a seed performance composition including antioxidants and bio- stimulants.
  • a seed performance composition including antioxidants and bio- stimulants.
  • treating seeds or plants with various chemistries, such as pesticides often results in production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that interfere with cellular mechanisms leading to poor performance from the treated seeds and plants.
  • ROS reactive oxygen species
  • the seed performance compositions of the present disclosure can reverse this negative effect of pesticides on plant growth.
  • a method for improving plant response by applying a seed performance composition to a seed including an amount within a range of about 0.5-2.0% by weight of glutathione, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of thiamine (vitamin B l), about 0.005-0.2% by weight of a-tocopherol (vitamin E), about 0.005-0.2% by weight of ascorbate (vitamin C), about 0.005-0.2% by weight of tryptophan, about 50% by weight of aloe vera extract and the remainder by weight of a carrier — such as, for example, hydroxyethyl cellulose as the carrier.
  • the composition can be mixed, vibrated, or agitated during the contacting.
  • the contacting may occur in a seed treater.
  • the seed performance composition may be formulated as either a flowable liquid or a dry powder.
  • Example 1 herein describes an exemplary seed performance composition including 50% aloe, 0.01% tocopherol vitamin E, 0.01% thiamine B l, 0.01% ascorbic acid, 1% glutathione, and 0.01% tryptophan in a liquid cellulose-based carrier.
  • Examples 2-7 describe treatment of com, cotton, peanut, soybean, and wheat with the exemplary seed performance composition to improve germination and growth. Some of the resulting data are provided in Figures 1-9 which are described in further detail below. More specifically, Example 2 describes treatment of com seeds with a base seed pesticide chemistry and the resulting negative effects on seed germination and growth. Three treatments were included in the experiment, untreated and a single and a double dose of the pesticide chemistry. The results are shown in Figure 1.
  • Figure 1 shows the germinated com seeds untreated (Control), treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem), and treated with the pesticides at the recommended rate (IX Chem).
  • untreated corn seeds and single dose pesticide treated seeds had normal germination, but double pesticide application showed mdimental seedling root growth which is indicative of chemical toxicity. Seed chemistry often exhibits growth retardance when applied at a higher rate.
  • a second experiment was performed where the above pesticide bled was applied in double concentration with and without a pesticide overload protection composition, whereas the control was untreated com seeds and the results are shown in Figures 2A-2C.
  • Figure 2A shows the germinated com seeds untreated (Control)
  • figure 2B shows the germinated corn seeds treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem)
  • figure 2C shows the germinated com seeds treated with both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate and with the seed safener composition (2X Chem + Safener).
  • Example 3 describes treatment of black cotton seed with a pesticide blend alone and treatment with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition.
  • the results are shown in figure 3.
  • figure 3 shows the germinated black cotton seed untreated (Untreated), treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate (Chem), and treated with both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate and with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • Untreated untreated
  • Chem base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate
  • Chem + Safener both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate and with the seed performance composition
  • the results demonstrated severe cotton seed germination issues with pesticide seed treatment, whereas addition of the safener composition with the pesticide blend reversed the chemical pesticide-induced inhibitory effect and enabled normal seedling growth.
  • Peanut seed treatment with a blend of industry fungicide pesticides alone and in combination with the seed performance composition is described in Example 4. The results are shown in figure 4.
  • Figure 4 shows the germinated peanut seeds 20 days after planting treated with the industry standard pesticides (Chem) and treated with both the industry standard pesticides and with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • the results showed that RANCONA VPL pesticide seed treatment did not reduce seed germination but greatly reduced seedling root growth whereas inclusion of the safener composition with RANCONA VPL increased seedling root growth profusely.
  • the results in figure 4 show that peanuts seeds treated with industry standard pesticides exhibited better and improved seedling growth when the pesticide overload protection composition was added with base pesticide chemistries.
  • Example 5 soybean seed was treated with a blend of pesticides alone and in combination with the seed performance composition at either full concentration or at half that rate.
  • the results showing the germinated seedlings are in figure 5.
  • Two treatments from the treated seeds, pesticide and pesticide plus full dose of safener composition were also planted in a greenhouse in small pots for two weeks and the results are shown in figures 6 and 7.
  • Figure 5 shows the germinated soybean seeds either untreated (UNT), treated with a pesticide blend at the recommended rate (Chem), treated with the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition at half concentration (Chem + 0.5X Safener), or treated with the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition at full concentration (Chem + IX Safener).
  • FIG 5 shows that the soybean seeds treated with the pesticide blend (Chem) had reduced seedling root growth as compared to untreated control. Whereas addition of the safener composition at 0.5X and at full rate (IX) in combination with the pesticide blend restored seedling root growth to normal.
  • Figure 6 shows the greenhouse grown soybean plants treated with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition on the left (Chem + Safener) or where the seed was treated with just the pesticide blend on the right (Chem).
  • soybean pesticide chemistries showed reduced emergence and seedling growth in pots (right) and addition of the seed performance composition induced emergence and seedling growth with open leaves (left).
  • Figure 7 is a graph showing average dry weight (DW) for the greenhouse plants after twelve days where “Base” represents seed treatment with just the pesticide blend and “Safener” represents seed treatment with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition.
  • Base represents seed treatment with just the pesticide blend
  • Safener represents seed treatment with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition.
  • treatment with pesticide overload protection resulted in increased seedling biomass over base chemistry treatment.
  • the pesticide seed treatment reduced seedling dry biomass significantly whereas, the safener treatment resulted in significantly (at 0.05 level) higher shoot dry biomass (17.4%) and overall seedling dry biomass (16.9%) over base pesticide seed treatment.
  • Example 6 describes treatment of spring wheat seed with a blend of industry standard pesticides either alone or in combination with the seed performance composition.
  • the results are shown in figure 8.
  • Figure 8 shows the spring wheat seedlings five days after plating in which seed was untreated (Untreated), treated with the industry pesticide blend (Chem), or treated with the industry pesticide blend in combination with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • Untreated untreated
  • Chem industry pesticide blend
  • Chip + Safener the pesticide seed treatment resulted in lower seedling root and shoot growth.
  • Adding pesticide overload protection with the pesticide treatment accelerated seedling growth counteracting the negative effect of the pesticides.
  • Example 7 describes a cotton field trial in which seeds were treated with either a liquid blend of standard industry pesticides alone (Chem) or treated with the pesticide blend in addition to treatment with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener) .
  • the treated seeds were planted in a replicated large field plot trials using completely randomized design. Seed cotton yield was harvested at the end of the growing season and data were analyzed for ANOVA using ARM statistical software.
  • Figure 9 is a graph showing the results on seed cotton yield in the field trial in which cotton seed was treated with either the liquid blend of standard industry pesticides alone (Chem) or treated with the pesticide blend in addition to treatment with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • seed treatment with the safener composition significantly increased seed cotton yield over control by 8.5% or 318 Ibs/A.
  • the present invention provides seed performance compositions for agricultural inputs that offer pesticide overload protection, or seed safener, to improve seed germination and subsequent seedling growth.
  • the seed performance composition comprises about 0.5-2% by weight of total antioxidants, about 0.005-0.20% by weight of vitamins B l, C, and E, about 0.005-0.2% biostimulant tryptophan, about 50% of aloe vera extract, and the remainder by weight of a carrier.
  • the carrier can include hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), hydroxyethyl propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), quillaja extract, xanthan gum, com starch, or yucca extract, and combinations thereof.
  • the seed performance composition can be formulated as a flowable liquid or a dry powder. In one instance, the seed performance composition is a flowable liquid and the remainder by weight of the carrier is a mixture of hydroxyethyl cellulose and water.
  • the seed performance composition is a liquid composition provided for coating plant seed that includes about 10-50% by weight of hydroxy ethyl cellulose as the carrier. Additional advantages of the compositions of the present invention include that they are non-toxic, microplastic free, and biodegradable to provide antioxidants and biostimulants including vitamins for plant growth and development.
  • the seed performance compositions can improve plant growth response when applied to seed in combination with various pesticides, including but not limited to one or more fungicides, bactericides, viricides, nematicides, insecticides, acaricides, and rodenticides.
  • various pesticides including but not limited to one or more fungicides, bactericides, viricides, nematicides, insecticides, acaricides, and rodenticides.
  • a method comprising: applying a seed performance composition to a seed, wherein the seed performance composition comprises: at least one antioxidant, at least one bio-stimulant and a carrier, wherein the seed performance composition improves one or more metric of the seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
  • the seed can have been previously treated with one or more pesticides.
  • the method can include applying one or more pesticides to the seed concurrently with applying the seed performance composition.
  • the seed performance composition can further include one or more pesticides.
  • the seed performance composition can be applied to the seed as a flowable liquid. In other instances, the seed performance composition is applied to the seed as a dry powder.
  • the seed performance composition includes about 0.5 to about 3% by weight of antioxidant, about 50% by weight of bio- stimulant, and the remainder by weight of a carrier.
  • the antioxidant can include glutathione and the bio-stimulant can include thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, tryptophan, and aloe vera extract.
  • the seed performance composition includes about 0.5-3.0% by weight of glutathione, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of thiamine, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of a-tocopherol, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of ascorbate, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of tryptophan, about 50% by weight of aloe vera extract, and the remainder percent by weight of the carrier.
  • a method for making a seed performance composition that includes combining the at least one antioxidant, the at least one bio- stimulant, and the carrier to obtain the seed performance composition.
  • the at least one antioxidant, the at least one bio- stimulant, and the carrier can be in the form of a flowable liquid or in the form of a dry powder or, alternatively, some of the components can be in the form of a flowable liquid and some in the form of a dry powder.
  • each component can be combined with the liquid carrier under agitation and blended until the overall mixture is homogeneous.
  • the components can be dry components and can be combined by mixing with the dry carrier.
  • the methods of the present disclosure include a method for improving seed performance that includes planting a seed coated with the seed performance composition of the present disclosure in a suitable growing medium.
  • the seed performance composition is present on the seed in an amount that improves at least one metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
  • a method for improving one or both of plant growth and health includes delivering to seed of a plant, roots of a plant, or soil or growth medium surrounding a plant, the seed performance composition of the present disclosure.
  • the seed performance composition is present in an amount that improves one or more metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
  • compositions and methods of the present disclosure can improve one or more metric of seed or plant growth performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield in a variety of different seeds and plants.
  • the variety of different seeds and plants includes, but is not limited to, soybean, peanut, corn, cotton, pea, wheat, cereal, grass, oil, legumes, non-legumes, or vegetable plants, and combinations thereof.
  • seed performance “seed safener”, “safener”, and “pesticide overload protection”, are herein used interchangeably for the purposes of the specification and claims.
  • seed performance compositions of the present disclosure are also referred to herein as seed safener compositions or pesticide overload protection compositions and so on.
  • composition and “formulation” are also used interchangeably in some instances.
  • the term “about” when used in connection with one or more numbers or numerical ranges should be understood to refer to all such numbers, including all numbers in a range and modifies that range by extending the boundaries above and below the numerical values set forth.
  • the recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers, e.g., whole integers, including fractions thereof, subsumed within that range (for example, the recitation of 1 to 5 includes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, as well as fractions thereof, e.g., 1.5, 2.25, 3.75, 4.1, and the like) and any range within that range.
  • the term “about”, when referring to a value can encompass variations of, in some embodiments +/-20%, in some embodiments +/-10%, in some embodiments +/-5%, in some embodiments +/-1%, in some embodiments +/-0.5%, and in some embodiments +/-0.1%, from the specified amount, as such variations are appropriate in the disclosed compositions and methods.
  • the term “about” meaning within an acceptable error range for the particular value should be assumed.
  • the term “about” includes a meaning of a 100% increase or decrease in the values listed.
  • the term “about” includes a meaning of a 50% increase or decrease in the values listed.
  • a pesticide overload protection composition (which is also referred to herein as a seed safener composition or seed performance composition) was tested on com, cotton, peanut, soybean, and wheat. The seeds were treated and set for germination. All entries were treated with the safener composition in clean re-sealable zipper storage bags. For each seed type, the amount of time the seed was treated remained the same for each entry to ensure consistency among the entries.
  • the seed performance composition was applied to seed as a liquid seed treatment as described below in reference to each specific crop.
  • the seed performance composition used in the treatments described in the Examples below comprised 50.1% bio-stimulants by weight (i.e., vitamins, tryptophan, and aloe vera extract), 1.3% antioxidants by weight, and the remaining percent by weight was liquid cellulose carrier.
  • the seed performance composition used contained 50% liquid Aloe (Organic Creations), 0.01% dry Tocopherol Vitamin E (Xi'an International healthcare Factory, China), 0.01% dry Thiamine Bl (Xi'an Biohorlden Industry & Trading Co, China), 0.01% dry Ascorbic Acid (Xi'an International healthcare Factory, China), 1% Glutathione (Hunan Insen Biotech Co. Ltd., China), 0.01% dry Tryptophan (Shaanxi Haibo Biotech Co, China), and the remaining was a liquid cellulose based carrier manufactured by Kannar Earth Science. To make this blend, each ingredient was added to the liquid carrier under agitation and blended until the overall mixture was homogeneous.
  • the reagents listed above are all purchased as liquid ingredients and mixed into the liquid carrier as described above.
  • the ingredients are all purchased as dry components and combined together with a dry carrier.
  • Corn seeds were treated with a base seed pesticide chemistry CORN IF 500 ST, a ready- to-use pesticide blend from Kannar Earth Science. It is a blend of industry standard pesticides including Startup TEBUZ 2.12%, Startup METXL 4.76%, Startup AZOXY 0.6%, Vitavax 34 25.39%, StartUP BIFEN 23.8%, colorant and binder 12.43%, KAN 7 13.16% and water 17.66%. Three treatments included in the experiment were untreated (Control), and a single and a double dose of pesticide (Chem). This experiment was designed to prove how overdose pesticide application can impact seed germination and root growth negatively.
  • CORN IF 500 ST a ready- to-use pesticide blend from Kannar Earth Science. It is a blend of industry standard pesticides including Startup TEBUZ 2.12%, Startup METXL 4.76%, Startup AZOXY 0.6%, Vitavax 34 25.39%, StartUP BIFEN 23.8%, colorant and binder 12.43%, KAN 7
  • Pesticide overload protection i.e., seed safener
  • Equal volume of water was added to the double concentrated pesticide blend.
  • the application rate for com seed treatment was 19.000 Fl Oz/CWT.
  • the seeds were treated in a re- sealable zipper storage bag for 1 minute per entry and then those were plated in germination seed trays on moist germination paper and kept in the dark for 6 days at 22° C ( Figure 2).
  • Figure 2 shows the germinated corn seeds untreated (Control), treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem), and treated with both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate and with the seed safener composition (2X Chem + Safener). It was evident from the experiment that while untreated control com seeds germinated normally, double dose pesticide treatment negatively impacted germination and root growth. Application of the seed performance in combination with double dose pesticide seed treatment counteracted the negative effect of the pesticides and enabled normal seed germination and root growth.
  • a blend of industry standard pesticides was used for treating black cotton seed. This blend included myclobutanol 4.43%, Startup METXL 2.56%, Startup IMIDA 0.84%, Startup Fludi ST 0.25%, Colorant and binder 24.94%, CaCO3 15.50 and water 51.56%.
  • the pesticide overload protection composition (Safener) was added in the pesticide blend to form a slurry. Seed was treated with the slurry at a rate of 32.016 Fl Oz/CWT in a re-sealable zipper storage bag, air-dried overnight and then plated in germination trays on moist germination paper and kept in the dark for 15 days at 22° C (Figure 3).
  • Figure 3 shows the germinated black cotton seed untreated (Untreated), treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate (Chem), and treated with both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate and with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • Peanut seeds were treated with UPL’s RANCONA VPL fungicide with and without the safener composition used in the experiments described above. It is a blend of industry standard pesticides including RANCONA V100 and Metalaxyl as well as water, polymer, and colorant.
  • One entry was RANCONA VPL with no other added components and the other entry was RANCONA VPL and pesticide overload protection (i.e., seed safener) at a rate of 2.000 Fl Oz/CWT.
  • the seed was treated in a re-sealable zipper storage bag for 30 seconds per entry. Seeds were then planted in germination flats containing greenhouse soil mix. Twenty days after, seedlings were harvested, roots were cleaned, and seedling growth was documented 20 days after planting (Figure 4).
  • Figure 4 shows the germinated peanut seeds 20 days after planting treated with the industry standard pesticides (Chem) and treated with both the industry standard pesticides and with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • the results showed that RANCONA VPL pesticide seed treatment did not reduce seed germination but greatly reduced seedling root growth whereas inclusion of the safener composition with RANCONA VPL increased seedling root growth profusely.
  • the results in Figure 4 show that peanuts seeds treated with industry standard pesticides exhibited better and improved seedling growth when the pesticide overload protection (Safener) was added with base pesticide chemistries.
  • Example 5 shows the germinated peanut seeds 20 days after planting treated with the industry standard pesticides (Chem) and treated with both the industry standard pesticides and with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • the results showed that RANCONA VPL pesticide seed treatment did not reduce seed germination but greatly reduced seedling root growth whereas inclusion of the safener composition with RANCONA VPL increased seedling root growth profusely.
  • Soybean seeds were treated with Kannar SOY 252 ST, a custom blend of pesticides.
  • the blend included Startup METXL 12.60%, Startup IMIDA 30.71%, RANCONA 3.8 FS 1.36%, StartUp T-MTYL 2.62%, colorant and binder 52.25% and water 0.46%.
  • the SOY 252 ST pesticide blend and safener composition was mixed into a slurry.
  • One treatment utilized safener composition at a recommended rate of 2.000 Fl Oz/CWT and another treatment utilized the safener composition at half the recommended rate. This was to see if the half rate would still be effective.
  • Soybean seed application rate with the slurry was 5 Fl Oz/CWT and the seeds were treated in a re- sealable zipper storage bag for 30 seconds and plated in a germination tray containing moist germination paper. Seed were then kept in the dark for 6 days at 22 °C (Figure 5). Two treatments from the treated seeds, pesticide and pesticide + full dose of safener composition were also planted in greenhouse in small pots for 2 weeks and the results are shown in Figures 6 and 7.
  • Figure 5 shows germinated soybean seeds either untreated (UNT), treated with a pesticide blend at the recommended rate (Chem), treated with the industry standard pesticide blend and a seed performance composition at half concentration (Chem + 0.5X Safener), or treated with the industry standard pesticide blend and a seed performance composition at full concentration (Chem + IX Safener).
  • the results in Figure 5 show that the soybean seeds treated with the pesticide blend (Chem) showed reduced seedling root growth as compared to untreated control.
  • addition of the safener composition at 0.5X and at full rate (IX) in combination with the pesticide blend enhanced seedling root growth to normal.
  • FIG. 6 shows soybean plants grown in a greenhouse from seed treated with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition on the left (Chem + Safener) or where the seed was treated with just the pesticide blend on the right (Chem).
  • soybean pesticide chemistries showed reduced emergence and seedling growth in pots (right) and addition of the seed performance induced emergence and seedling growth with open leaves (left).
  • Figure 7 is a graph showing average dry weight (DW) for the plants from the study described in Figure 6 after 12 days where “Base” represents seed treatment with just the pesticide blend and “Safener” represents seed treatment with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition.
  • Base represents seed treatment with just the pesticide blend
  • Safener represents seed treatment with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition.
  • treatment with pesticide overload protection resulted in increased seedling biomass over base chemistry treatment.
  • pesticide blend seed treatment reduced seedling dry biomass significantly whereas, the safener treatment resulted in significantly (at 0.05 level) higher shoot dry biomass (17.4%) and overall seedling dry biomass (16.9%) over base pesticide seed treatment.
  • a blend of industry standard pesticides and inert ingredients was used for treating wheat seed. This blend included VIBRANCE EXTREME 29.86%, CRUISER 5FS 8.12%, and MAXIM 4FS 0.90%, soybean oill.75%, colorant and binder 9.54% and water 45.83%. One entry was untreated seed.
  • the pesticide blend treatment included 18 Fl Oz + 2.0 Fl Oz water/ CWT.
  • Wheat seeds treated with pesticide blend and the safener composition from the previous experiments described herein included 18 Fl Oz + 2.0 Fl Oz Safener/ CWT. So, the seed application rate was 20 Fl Oz/CWT.
  • Figure 8 shows the spring wheat seedlings five days after plating in which seed was untreated (Untreated), treated with the industry pesticide blend (Chem), or treated with the industry pesticide blend in combination with a seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
  • Untreated untreated
  • Chip industry pesticide blend
  • Chip + Safener a seed performance composition
  • cotton var. DP2012-B3XF field trails were conducted by Arkansas University Department of Agriculture (AUDA) at Eorenz location.
  • WAA Arkansas University Department of Agriculture
  • cotton seeds were treated with either a liquid blend of standard industry pesticides alone or treated with the liquid blend in addition to the safener composition described in the experiments above at 2.0 Fl Oz/cwt rate. Both treated (Chem + Safener) and control (Chem) cotton seeds were planted in a replicated large field plot trials using completely randomized design. Seed cotton yield was harvested at the end of the growing season and data were analyzed for ANOVA using ARM statistical software.
  • Figure 9 is a graph showing the results on seed cotton yield in the field trial in which cotton seed was either treated only with the pesticide blend (Chem) or treated with the pesticide blend in addition to the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener). As can be seen, seed treatment with the safener composition significantly increased seed cotton yield over the control by 8.5% or 318 1bs/A.
  • compositions and methods have been described in reference to specific embodiments, features, and illustrative embodiments, it will be appreciated that the utility of the subject matter is not thus limited, but rather extends to and encompasses numerous other variations, modifications and alternative embodiments, as will suggest themselves to those of ordinary skill in the field of the present subject matter, based on the disclosure herein.

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Abstract

Seed performance or "safener" compositions, methods of applying the compositions to seed, roots, and soil surrounding a plant, and seeds treated with the compositions are provided. The seed performance compositions can reduce chemical toxicity from pesticides to improve seed germination and seedling growth in pesticide treated seed. The seed performance compositions include one or more antioxidants, one or more bio-stimulants, and a carrier. The safener compositions can be formulated as a flowable liquid for application to seed and can be applied to seed concurrently with one or more liquid pesticides. Additional advantages of the safener compositions include that they are non-toxic, microplastic free, and biodegradable to provide antioxidants and bio-stimulants, including vitamins and amino acids, for plant growth and development.

Description

COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR IMPROVING SEED PERFORMANCE
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. provisional patent application no. 63/328,506 filed on April 7, 2022, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present disclosure relates to seed treatment in agriculture with compositions that improve one or more metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield. The improvement in seed performance is observed for pesticide treated seed, in which the pesticide treatment negatively impacts and/or slows down germination and early seedling growth.
BACKGROUND
In agriculture, pesticides are commonly used for the protection of economic crops from a variety of notorious pests. However, repeated indiscriminate and rampant use and the persistence of certain pesticides often leads to accumulation of toxic compounds in soil, water, plants, and animals.
Worldwide, the farming population consists of about 860 million and approximately 44% suffers from unintentional acute pesticide poisoning (Wolfgang et al. 2020). In addition to the environmental impact, the overapplication of pesticides often impairs seed germination, seedling vigor, and photosynthetic pigment (Shakirullah et al., 2016). Many insecticides also reduce seed germination and seedling vigor (Sanjeev et al, 2016). It is also reported that pesticide (emamectin, cypermethrin, and imidacloprid) overload significantly elevates reactive oxygen species (ROS) and causes cell membrane damage, increases cell injury and reduces cell viability in tomatoes (Shakirullah at al., 2018). Moreover, triarimol and propiconazole delay germination and seedling growth of potatoes and wheat as well (Ebadollah et al., 2016).
Not all pesticides interfere with seed germination. However, in current times, most crop seeds are stacked with more than one pesticide to control bacteria, fungi, insects, and nematodes. This stacking often inhibits seed germination and early seedling growth. Moreover, in developing countries, farmers often overapply pesticides thinking that ‘a little is good, but more is better’ and thus they end up with less seedling vigor while increasing toxicity for the environment.
Considering the above and because chemical seed treatments have become a common practice, there remains a need for enhancing seed germination and early seedling growth response by reducing negative impact of pesticide overload. The present disclosure provides compositions and methods to counteract the negative growth effects of pesticide seed treatment.
SUMMARY
In one embodiment, a method of seed treatment is provided that includes applying a seed performance composition to a seed, wherein the seed performance composition includes: at least one antioxidant, at least one bio-stimulant and a carrier. The seed performance composition improves one or more metric of the seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
In the method, the seed can have been previously treated with one or more pesticides or, alternatively, the method can include applying one or more pesticides to the seed concurrently with applying the seed performance composition. The seed performance composition can be applied to the seed in the form of a flowable liquid.
The method can further include mixing, vibrating, or agitating the seed during the applying.
In some embodiments, applying the seed performance composition to the seed includes application at a rate between about 1.000 Fl Oz/CWT to about 5.000 Fl Oz/CWT of seed.
In another embodiment, the seed performance composition is provided that includes at least one antioxidant, at least one bio- stimulant, and a carrier. The seed performance composition after application to a seed improves one or more metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield. The seed performance composition can further include one or more pesticides.
The seed performance composition can be formulated as a flowable liquid or a dry powder.
In the seed performance composition, the at least one bio-stimulant can be vitamins, thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, amino acids, tryptophan, or aloe vera extract, and combinations thereof.
In some embodiments, the carrier includes about 10-50% by weight of the seed performance composition. The carrier can include hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), hydroxyethyl propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), quillaja extract, xanthan gum, corn starch, or yucca extract, and combinations thereof.
In another embodiment, the seed performance composition can include about 0.5-2% by weight of the antioxidant, about 50.1 % by weight of the bio- stimulant, and the remainder by weight of the carrier. The bio-stimulant can include vitamins, thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, amino acids, tryptophan, or aloe vera extract, and combinations thereof. The antioxidant can include glutathione and the bio-stimulant can include thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, tryptophan, and aloe vera extract.
The seed performance composition can include about 0.5-2.0% by weight of glutathione, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of thiamine, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of a-tocopherol, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of ascorbate, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of tryptophan, about 50% by weight of aloe vera extract, and the remainder percent by weight of carrier.
In other embodiments, plant seed coated with the seed performance composition of the present disclosure is provided.
The methods of the present disclosure include a method for improving seed performance that includes planting a seed coated with the seed performance composition of the present disclosure in a suitable growing medium. The seed performance composition is present on the seed in an amount that improves at least one metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
In another embodiment, a method is provided for improving one or both of plant growth and health that includes delivering to seed of a plant, roots of a plant, or soil or growth medium surrounding a plant, the seed performance composition of the present disclosure. The seed performance composition is present in an amount that improves one or more metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
In the methods and compositions of the present disclosure, the seed or plant can include, but is not limited to, soybean, peanut, corn, cotton, pea, wheat, cereal, grass, oil, legumes, nonlegumes, or vegetable plants, and combinations thereof. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 shows germinated corn seeds untreated (Control), treated with a base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem), and treated with the pesticides at the recommended rate (IX Chem).
Figure 2A shows germinated corn seeds untreated (Control).
Figure 2B shows germinated com seeds treated with a base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem).
Figure 2C shows germinated corn seeds treated with both a base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate and with a seed performance composition (2X Chem + Safener).
Figure 3 shows germinated black cotton seed untreated (Untreated), treated with a base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate (Chem), and treated with both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate and with a seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
Figure 4 shows germinated peanut seeds 20 days after planting treated with industry standard pesticides (Chem) or treated with both the industry standard pesticides and with a seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
Figure 5 shows germinated soybean seeds untreated (UNT), treated with a pesticide blend at the recommended rate (Chem), treated with the industry standard pesticide blend and a seed performance composition at half concentration (Chem + 0.5X Safener), and treated with the industry standard pesticide blend and a seed performance composition at full concentration (Chem + IX Safener).
Figure 6 shows soybean plants grown in a greenhouse in which seed was treated with both a pesticide blend and a seed performance composition on the left (Chem + Safener) or where the seed was treated with just the pesticide blend on the right (Chem).
Figure 7 is a graph showing average dry weight (DW) for the plants from the study described in Figure 6 after 12 days where “Base” represents seed treatment with just the pesticide blend and “Safener” represents seed treatment with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition. Figure 8 shows spring wheat seedlings 5 days after plating in which seed was untreated (Untreated), treated with a standard industry pesticide blend (Chem), or treated with the standard industry pesticide blend in combination with a seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
Figure 9 is a graph showing the results on seed cotton yield in a field trial in which cotton seed was either treated only with the pesticide blend (Chem) or treated with the pesticide blend in addition to the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the present disclosure, reference will now be made to preferred embodiments and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended, such alteration and further modifications of the disclosure as illustrated herein, being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the disclosure relates.
The present invention is in some embodiments directed to a seed performance composition that, in one or more aspects, provides an enhancement in seed germination and early seedling growth through the reduction of negative impacts associated with pesticide overload and the boosting of antioxidant activity in seeds treated therewith. In some aspects of the present invention, a seed performance composition is provided that includes an antioxidant and several bio-stimulants in a liquid carrier. The carrier can be a cellulose-based liquid carrier. For example, one embodiment can specifically comprise about 0.5-2% antioxidants by weight, about 50.1% bio- stimulants by weight, and the remainder by weight of the carrier. While specific ratios may be mentioned herein, these ratios only provide examples and the ratio for each of the elements of the composition may be varied in reference to each other. Seed performance compositions including antioxidants and bio-stimulants in a carrier is also referred to herein as pesticide overload protection.
The composition, in one or more aspects, can be useful in enhancing growth in a variety of crop seeds. In demonstration, crops seeds in which plant growth enhancement due to treatment with a composition of the present invention were investigated herein include soybean, cotton, peanut, wheat, and com as described in the Examples herein. In various embodiments, the present invention provides a seed performance composition, methods of treating seeds with the composition, and seeds produced as a result of such treatment methods.
In various embodiments provided herein, the treated seed can include seed from plants such as soybean, peanut, corn, cotton, pea, wheat, cereal, grass, oil, legumes, non-legumes, or vegetable plants, and combinations thereof. However, it is foreseen that other seed from additional unmentioned plants can also benefit from treatment according to the various embodiments herein.
In various embodiments, a method is provided for improving the ability of plant seeds to tolerate abiotic stress through application of a seed performance composition including antioxidants and bio- stimulants. Without being limited to any one mechanism of action, treating seeds or plants with various chemistries, such as pesticides, often results in production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that interfere with cellular mechanisms leading to poor performance from the treated seeds and plants. The seed performance compositions of the present disclosure can reverse this negative effect of pesticides on plant growth.
In one embodiment, a method is provided for improving plant response by applying a seed performance composition to a seed, the composition including an amount within a range of about 0.5-2.0% by weight of glutathione, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of thiamine (vitamin B l), about 0.005-0.2% by weight of a-tocopherol (vitamin E), about 0.005-0.2% by weight of ascorbate (vitamin C), about 0.005-0.2% by weight of tryptophan, about 50% by weight of aloe vera extract and the remainder by weight of a carrier — such as, for example, hydroxyethyl cellulose as the carrier. In the method of applying the seed performance composition to the seed, the composition can be mixed, vibrated, or agitated during the contacting. The contacting may occur in a seed treater. In the method, the seed performance composition may be formulated as either a flowable liquid or a dry powder.
Example 1 herein describes an exemplary seed performance composition including 50% aloe, 0.01% tocopherol vitamin E, 0.01% thiamine B l, 0.01% ascorbic acid, 1% glutathione, and 0.01% tryptophan in a liquid cellulose-based carrier. Examples 2-7 describe treatment of com, cotton, peanut, soybean, and wheat with the exemplary seed performance composition to improve germination and growth. Some of the resulting data are provided in Figures 1-9 which are described in further detail below. More specifically, Example 2 describes treatment of com seeds with a base seed pesticide chemistry and the resulting negative effects on seed germination and growth. Three treatments were included in the experiment, untreated and a single and a double dose of the pesticide chemistry. The results are shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 shows the germinated com seeds untreated (Control), treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem), and treated with the pesticides at the recommended rate (IX Chem). As can be seen, untreated corn seeds and single dose pesticide treated seeds had normal germination, but double pesticide application showed mdimental seedling root growth which is indicative of chemical toxicity. Seed chemistry often exhibits growth retardance when applied at a higher rate. A second experiment was performed where the above pesticide bled was applied in double concentration with and without a pesticide overload protection composition, whereas the control was untreated com seeds and the results are shown in Figures 2A-2C. Figure 2A shows the germinated com seeds untreated (Control), figure 2B shows the germinated corn seeds treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem), and figure 2C shows the germinated com seeds treated with both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate and with the seed safener composition (2X Chem + Safener). It was evident from the experiment that while untreated control corn seeds germinated normally, double dose pesticide treatment negatively impacted germination and root growth. Application of the seed performance composition in combination with double dose pesticide seed treatment counteracted the negative effect of the pesticides and enabled normal seed germination and root growth.
Example 3 describes treatment of black cotton seed with a pesticide blend alone and treatment with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition. The results are shown in figure 3. Specifically, figure 3 shows the germinated black cotton seed untreated (Untreated), treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate (Chem), and treated with both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate and with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener). The results demonstrated severe cotton seed germination issues with pesticide seed treatment, whereas addition of the safener composition with the pesticide blend reversed the chemical pesticide-induced inhibitory effect and enabled normal seedling growth. Peanut seed treatment with a blend of industry fungicide pesticides alone and in combination with the seed performance composition is described in Example 4. The results are shown in figure 4. Figure 4 shows the germinated peanut seeds 20 days after planting treated with the industry standard pesticides (Chem) and treated with both the industry standard pesticides and with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener). The results showed that RANCONA VPL pesticide seed treatment did not reduce seed germination but greatly reduced seedling root growth whereas inclusion of the safener composition with RANCONA VPL increased seedling root growth profusely. The results in figure 4 show that peanuts seeds treated with industry standard pesticides exhibited better and improved seedling growth when the pesticide overload protection composition was added with base pesticide chemistries.
In Example 5, soybean seed was treated with a blend of pesticides alone and in combination with the seed performance composition at either full concentration or at half that rate. The results showing the germinated seedlings are in figure 5. Two treatments from the treated seeds, pesticide and pesticide plus full dose of safener composition were also planted in a greenhouse in small pots for two weeks and the results are shown in figures 6 and 7. Figure 5 shows the germinated soybean seeds either untreated (UNT), treated with a pesticide blend at the recommended rate (Chem), treated with the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition at half concentration (Chem + 0.5X Safener), or treated with the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition at full concentration (Chem + IX Safener). The results in figure 5 show that the soybean seeds treated with the pesticide blend (Chem) had reduced seedling root growth as compared to untreated control. Whereas addition of the safener composition at 0.5X and at full rate (IX) in combination with the pesticide blend restored seedling root growth to normal. Figure 6 shows the greenhouse grown soybean plants treated with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition on the left (Chem + Safener) or where the seed was treated with just the pesticide blend on the right (Chem). In figure 6, soybean pesticide chemistries showed reduced emergence and seedling growth in pots (right) and addition of the seed performance composition induced emergence and seedling growth with open leaves (left). Figure 7 is a graph showing average dry weight (DW) for the greenhouse plants after twelve days where “Base” represents seed treatment with just the pesticide blend and “Safener” represents seed treatment with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition. As can be seen in figure 7, treatment with pesticide overload protection resulted in increased seedling biomass over base chemistry treatment. Specifically, the pesticide seed treatment reduced seedling dry biomass significantly whereas, the safener treatment resulted in significantly (at 0.05 level) higher shoot dry biomass (17.4%) and overall seedling dry biomass (16.9%) over base pesticide seed treatment.
Example 6 describes treatment of spring wheat seed with a blend of industry standard pesticides either alone or in combination with the seed performance composition. The results are shown in figure 8. Figure 8 shows the spring wheat seedlings five days after plating in which seed was untreated (Untreated), treated with the industry pesticide blend (Chem), or treated with the industry pesticide blend in combination with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener). As can be seen, the pesticide seed treatment resulted in lower seedling root and shoot growth. Adding pesticide overload protection with the pesticide treatment accelerated seedling growth counteracting the negative effect of the pesticides.
Example 7 describes a cotton field trial in which seeds were treated with either a liquid blend of standard industry pesticides alone (Chem) or treated with the pesticide blend in addition to treatment with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener) . The treated seeds were planted in a replicated large field plot trials using completely randomized design. Seed cotton yield was harvested at the end of the growing season and data were analyzed for ANOVA using ARM statistical software. Figure 9 is a graph showing the results on seed cotton yield in the field trial in which cotton seed was treated with either the liquid blend of standard industry pesticides alone (Chem) or treated with the pesticide blend in addition to treatment with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener). As can be seen, seed treatment with the safener composition significantly increased seed cotton yield over control by 8.5% or 318 Ibs/A.
In various embodiments, the present invention provides seed performance compositions for agricultural inputs that offer pesticide overload protection, or seed safener, to improve seed germination and subsequent seedling growth.
In one embodiment, the seed performance composition comprises about 0.5-2% by weight of total antioxidants, about 0.005-0.20% by weight of vitamins B l, C, and E, about 0.005-0.2% biostimulant tryptophan, about 50% of aloe vera extract, and the remainder by weight of a carrier. The carrier can include hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), hydroxyethyl propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), quillaja extract, xanthan gum, com starch, or yucca extract, and combinations thereof. The seed performance composition can be formulated as a flowable liquid or a dry powder. In one instance, the seed performance composition is a flowable liquid and the remainder by weight of the carrier is a mixture of hydroxyethyl cellulose and water.
In one aspect of the present invention, the seed performance composition is a liquid composition provided for coating plant seed that includes about 10-50% by weight of hydroxy ethyl cellulose as the carrier. Additional advantages of the compositions of the present invention include that they are non-toxic, microplastic free, and biodegradable to provide antioxidants and biostimulants including vitamins for plant growth and development.
In various embodiments of the present invention, the seed performance compositions can improve plant growth response when applied to seed in combination with various pesticides, including but not limited to one or more fungicides, bactericides, viricides, nematicides, insecticides, acaricides, and rodenticides.
In one embodiment, a method is provided of seed treatment comprising: applying a seed performance composition to a seed, wherein the seed performance composition comprises: at least one antioxidant, at least one bio-stimulant and a carrier, wherein the seed performance composition improves one or more metric of the seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
In the method, the seed can have been previously treated with one or more pesticides. In another instance, the method can include applying one or more pesticides to the seed concurrently with applying the seed performance composition. Alternatively, the seed performance composition can further include one or more pesticides. The seed performance composition can be applied to the seed as a flowable liquid. In other instances, the seed performance composition is applied to the seed as a dry powder.
In other embodiments of the methods and compositions provided herein, the seed performance composition includes about 0.5 to about 3% by weight of antioxidant, about 50% by weight of bio- stimulant, and the remainder by weight of a carrier. The antioxidant can include glutathione and the bio-stimulant can include thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, tryptophan, and aloe vera extract.
In some instances of the methods and compositions provided herein, the seed performance composition includes about 0.5-3.0% by weight of glutathione, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of thiamine, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of a-tocopherol, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of ascorbate, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of tryptophan, about 50% by weight of aloe vera extract, and the remainder percent by weight of the carrier.
Methods of making the seed performance compositions of the present disclosure are provided. In one embodiment, a method is provided for making a seed performance composition that includes combining the at least one antioxidant, the at least one bio- stimulant, and the carrier to obtain the seed performance composition. In the combining, the at least one antioxidant, the at least one bio- stimulant, and the carrier can be in the form of a flowable liquid or in the form of a dry powder or, alternatively, some of the components can be in the form of a flowable liquid and some in the form of a dry powder. In one instance, each component can be combined with the liquid carrier under agitation and blended until the overall mixture is homogeneous. The components can be dry components and can be combined by mixing with the dry carrier.
The methods of the present disclosure include a method for improving seed performance that includes planting a seed coated with the seed performance composition of the present disclosure in a suitable growing medium. The seed performance composition is present on the seed in an amount that improves at least one metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
In another embodiment, a method is provided for improving one or both of plant growth and health that includes delivering to seed of a plant, roots of a plant, or soil or growth medium surrounding a plant, the seed performance composition of the present disclosure. The seed performance composition is present in an amount that improves one or more metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
The compositions and methods of the present disclosure can improve one or more metric of seed or plant growth performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield in a variety of different seeds and plants. The variety of different seeds and plants includes, but is not limited to, soybean, peanut, corn, cotton, pea, wheat, cereal, grass, oil, legumes, non-legumes, or vegetable plants, and combinations thereof.
Following long-standing patent law convention, the terms “a,” “an,” and “the” refer to “one or more” when used in this application, including the claims. Thus, for example, reference to “a seed performance composition” includes a plurality of seed performance compositions, unless the context clearly is to the contrary, and so forth. Throughout this specification and the claims, the terms “comprise,” “comprises,” and “comprising” are used in a non-exclusive sense, except where the context requires otherwise. Likewise, the terms “having” and “including” and their grammatical variants are intended to be non-limiting, such that recitation of items in a list is not to the exclusion of other like items that can be substituted or added to the listed items.
The terms “seed performance”, “seed safener”, “safener”, and “pesticide overload protection”, are herein used interchangeably for the purposes of the specification and claims. In other words, the seed performance compositions of the present disclosure are also referred to herein as seed safener compositions or pesticide overload protection compositions and so on. In the specification, the terms “composition” and “formulation” are also used interchangeably in some instances.
For the purposes of this specification and claims, the term “about” when used in connection with one or more numbers or numerical ranges, should be understood to refer to all such numbers, including all numbers in a range and modifies that range by extending the boundaries above and below the numerical values set forth. The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers, e.g., whole integers, including fractions thereof, subsumed within that range (for example, the recitation of 1 to 5 includes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, as well as fractions thereof, e.g., 1.5, 2.25, 3.75, 4.1, and the like) and any range within that range. In addition, as used herein, the term "about", when referring to a value can encompass variations of, in some embodiments +/-20%, in some embodiments +/-10%, in some embodiments +/-5%, in some embodiments +/-1%, in some embodiments +/-0.5%, and in some embodiments +/-0.1%, from the specified amount, as such variations are appropriate in the disclosed compositions and methods. Where particular values are described in the application and claims, unless otherwise stated, the term “about” meaning within an acceptable error range for the particular value should be assumed. Specifically, in reference to the seed performance compositions provided herein, in some embodiments, the term “about” includes a meaning of a 100% increase or decrease in the values listed. Similarly, in reference to the seed performance compositions provided herein, in some embodiments, the term “about” includes a meaning of a 50% increase or decrease in the values listed.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Exemplary Seed Performance Composition
The efficacy of a pesticide overload protection composition (which is also referred to herein as a seed safener composition or seed performance composition) was tested on com, cotton, peanut, soybean, and wheat. The seeds were treated and set for germination. All entries were treated with the safener composition in clean re-sealable zipper storage bags. For each seed type, the amount of time the seed was treated remained the same for each entry to ensure consistency among the entries. The seed performance composition was applied to seed as a liquid seed treatment as described below in reference to each specific crop. The seed performance composition used in the treatments described in the Examples below comprised 50.1% bio-stimulants by weight (i.e., vitamins, tryptophan, and aloe vera extract), 1.3% antioxidants by weight, and the remaining percent by weight was liquid cellulose carrier.
For the experiments described below in Examples 2-7, the seed performance composition used contained 50% liquid Aloe (Organic Creations), 0.01% dry Tocopherol Vitamin E (Xi'an International healthcare Factory, China), 0.01% dry Thiamine Bl (Xi'an Biohorlden Industry & Trading Co, China), 0.01% dry Ascorbic Acid (Xi'an International healthcare Factory, China), 1% Glutathione (Hunan Insen Biotech Co. Ltd., China), 0.01% dry Tryptophan (Shaanxi Haibo Biotech Co, China), and the remaining was a liquid cellulose based carrier manufactured by Kannar Earth Science. To make this blend, each ingredient was added to the liquid carrier under agitation and blended until the overall mixture was homogeneous. In another example, the reagents listed above are all purchased as liquid ingredients and mixed into the liquid carrier as described above. In yet another example, the ingredients are all purchased as dry components and combined together with a dry carrier.
Example 2
Corn Seed Treatment
Corn seeds were treated with a base seed pesticide chemistry CORN IF 500 ST, a ready- to-use pesticide blend from Kannar Earth Science. It is a blend of industry standard pesticides including Startup TEBUZ 2.12%, Startup METXL 4.76%, Startup AZOXY 0.6%, Vitavax 34 25.39%, StartUP BIFEN 23.8%, colorant and binder 12.43%, KAN 7 13.16% and water 17.66%. Three treatments included in the experiment were untreated (Control), and a single and a double dose of pesticide (Chem). This experiment was designed to prove how overdose pesticide application can impact seed germination and root growth negatively. All of the entries had a total application rate of 19.000 Fl Oz/CWT, including all components (CWT represents 100 pounds of seed). The seeds were treated in a re-sealable zipper storage bag for 1 minute per entry, then plated on moist germination paper in a tray and kept for 8 days at 22° C (Figure 1). Figure 1 shows the germinated com seeds untreated (Control), treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem), and treated with the pesticides at the recommended rate (IX Chem). As can be seen, untreated com seeds and single dose pesticide treated seeds had normal germination, but double pesticide application showed mdimental seedling root growth which is indicative of chemical toxicity. Seed chemistry often exhibits growth retardance when applied at a higher rate.
Following the above experiment, a second experiment was designed where the above pesticide bled was applied in double concentration with and without a pesticide overload protection composition, whereas the control was untreated com seeds. Pesticide overload protection (i.e., seed safener) was added at a rate of 2.000 Fl Oz/CWT when added to the pesticide blend as a slurry. Equal volume of water was added to the double concentrated pesticide blend. The application rate for com seed treatment was 19.000 Fl Oz/CWT. The seeds were treated in a re- sealable zipper storage bag for 1 minute per entry and then those were plated in germination seed trays on moist germination paper and kept in the dark for 6 days at 22° C (Figure 2). Figure 2 shows the germinated corn seeds untreated (Control), treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate (2X Chem), and treated with both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at twice the recommended rate and with the seed safener composition (2X Chem + Safener). It was evident from the experiment that while untreated control com seeds germinated normally, double dose pesticide treatment negatively impacted germination and root growth. Application of the seed performance in combination with double dose pesticide seed treatment counteracted the negative effect of the pesticides and enabled normal seed germination and root growth.
Example 3 Black Cotton Seed Treatment
A blend of industry standard pesticides was used for treating black cotton seed. This blend included myclobutanol 4.43%, Startup METXL 2.56%, Startup IMIDA 0.84%, Startup Fludi ST 0.25%, Colorant and binder 24.94%, CaCO3 15.50 and water 51.56%. The pesticide overload protection composition (Safener) was added in the pesticide blend to form a slurry. Seed was treated with the slurry at a rate of 32.016 Fl Oz/CWT in a re-sealable zipper storage bag, air-dried overnight and then plated in germination trays on moist germination paper and kept in the dark for 15 days at 22° C (Figure 3). Figure 3 shows the germinated black cotton seed untreated (Untreated), treated with the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate (Chem), and treated with both the base seed treatment that included pesticides at the recommended rate and with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener). The results demonstrated severe cotton seed germination issues with pesticide seed treatment, whereas addition of the safener composition with the pesticide blend reversed the chemical pesticide-induced inhibitory effect and enabled normal seedling growth.
Example 4
Peanut Seed Treatment
Peanut seeds were treated with UPL’s RANCONA VPL fungicide with and without the safener composition used in the experiments described above. It is a blend of industry standard pesticides including RANCONA V100 and Metalaxyl as well as water, polymer, and colorant. One entry was RANCONA VPL with no other added components and the other entry was RANCONA VPL and pesticide overload protection (i.e., seed safener) at a rate of 2.000 Fl Oz/CWT. The seed was treated in a re-sealable zipper storage bag for 30 seconds per entry. Seeds were then planted in germination flats containing greenhouse soil mix. Twenty days after, seedlings were harvested, roots were cleaned, and seedling growth was documented 20 days after planting (Figure 4). Figure 4 shows the germinated peanut seeds 20 days after planting treated with the industry standard pesticides (Chem) and treated with both the industry standard pesticides and with the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener). The results showed that RANCONA VPL pesticide seed treatment did not reduce seed germination but greatly reduced seedling root growth whereas inclusion of the safener composition with RANCONA VPL increased seedling root growth profusely. The results in Figure 4 show that peanuts seeds treated with industry standard pesticides exhibited better and improved seedling growth when the pesticide overload protection (Safener) was added with base pesticide chemistries. Example 5
Soybean Seed Treatment
Soybean seeds were treated with Kannar SOY 252 ST, a custom blend of pesticides. The blend included Startup METXL 12.60%, Startup IMIDA 30.71%, RANCONA 3.8 FS 1.36%, StartUp T-MTYL 2.62%, colorant and binder 52.25% and water 0.46%. The SOY 252 ST pesticide blend and safener composition was mixed into a slurry. One treatment utilized safener composition at a recommended rate of 2.000 Fl Oz/CWT and another treatment utilized the safener composition at half the recommended rate. This was to see if the half rate would still be effective. Soybean seed application rate with the slurry was 5 Fl Oz/CWT and the seeds were treated in a re- sealable zipper storage bag for 30 seconds and plated in a germination tray containing moist germination paper. Seed were then kept in the dark for 6 days at 22 °C (Figure 5). Two treatments from the treated seeds, pesticide and pesticide + full dose of safener composition were also planted in greenhouse in small pots for 2 weeks and the results are shown in Figures 6 and 7.
Figure 5 shows germinated soybean seeds either untreated (UNT), treated with a pesticide blend at the recommended rate (Chem), treated with the industry standard pesticide blend and a seed performance composition at half concentration (Chem + 0.5X Safener), or treated with the industry standard pesticide blend and a seed performance composition at full concentration (Chem + IX Safener). The results in Figure 5 show that the soybean seeds treated with the pesticide blend (Chem) showed reduced seedling root growth as compared to untreated control. Whereas addition of the safener composition at 0.5X and at full rate (IX) in combination with the pesticide blend enhanced seedling root growth to normal.
Figure 6 shows soybean plants grown in a greenhouse from seed treated with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition on the left (Chem + Safener) or where the seed was treated with just the pesticide blend on the right (Chem). In Figure 6, soybean pesticide chemistries showed reduced emergence and seedling growth in pots (right) and addition of the seed performance induced emergence and seedling growth with open leaves (left).
Figure 7 is a graph showing average dry weight (DW) for the plants from the study described in Figure 6 after 12 days where “Base” represents seed treatment with just the pesticide blend and “Safener” represents seed treatment with both the pesticide blend and the seed performance composition. As can be seen in Figure 7, treatment with pesticide overload protection (Safener) resulted in increased seedling biomass over base chemistry treatment. Specifically, pesticide blend seed treatment reduced seedling dry biomass significantly whereas, the safener treatment resulted in significantly (at 0.05 level) higher shoot dry biomass (17.4%) and overall seedling dry biomass (16.9%) over base pesticide seed treatment.
Example 6 Spring Wheat Seed Treatment
A blend of industry standard pesticides and inert ingredients was used for treating wheat seed. This blend included VIBRANCE EXTREME 29.86%, CRUISER 5FS 8.12%, and MAXIM 4FS 0.90%, soybean oill.75%, colorant and binder 9.54% and water 45.83%. One entry was untreated seed. The pesticide blend treatment included 18 Fl Oz + 2.0 Fl Oz water/ CWT. Wheat seeds treated with pesticide blend and the safener composition from the previous experiments described herein included 18 Fl Oz + 2.0 Fl Oz Safener/ CWT. So, the seed application rate was 20 Fl Oz/CWT. The seed was treated in a re-sealable zipper storage bag for 1 minute per entry and then plated on seed germination trays on moist germination paper for 5 days in the dark at 22°C (Figure 8). Figure 8 shows the spring wheat seedlings five days after plating in which seed was untreated (Untreated), treated with the industry pesticide blend (Chem), or treated with the industry pesticide blend in combination with a seed performance composition (Chem + Safener). As can be seen, the pesticide seed treatment on spring wheat showed lower seedling root and shoot growth. Adding pesticide overload protection (Safener) with the pesticide treatment accelerated seedling growth counteracting the negative effect of the pesticides.
Example 7
Cotton Field Trial
In the Spring of 2022, cotton (var. DP2012-B3XF) field trails were conducted by Arkansas University Department of Agriculture (AUDA) at Eorenz location. In the trials, cotton seeds were treated with either a liquid blend of standard industry pesticides alone or treated with the liquid blend in addition to the safener composition described in the experiments above at 2.0 Fl Oz/cwt rate. Both treated (Chem + Safener) and control (Chem) cotton seeds were planted in a replicated large field plot trials using completely randomized design. Seed cotton yield was harvested at the end of the growing season and data were analyzed for ANOVA using ARM statistical software. Figure 9 is a graph showing the results on seed cotton yield in the field trial in which cotton seed was either treated only with the pesticide blend (Chem) or treated with the pesticide blend in addition to the seed performance composition (Chem + Safener). As can be seen, seed treatment with the safener composition significantly increased seed cotton yield over the control by 8.5% or 318 1bs/A.
Accordingly, while the compositions and methods have been described in reference to specific embodiments, features, and illustrative embodiments, it will be appreciated that the utility of the subject matter is not thus limited, but rather extends to and encompasses numerous other variations, modifications and alternative embodiments, as will suggest themselves to those of ordinary skill in the field of the present subject matter, based on the disclosure herein.
Various combinations and sub-combinations of the elements and features described herein are contemplated and will be apparent to a skilled person having knowledge of this disclosure. Any of the various features and elements as disclosed herein may be combined with one or more other disclosed features and elements unless indicated to the contrary herein. Correspondingly, the subject matter as hereinafter claimed is intended to be broadly construed and interpreted, as including all such variations, modifications, and alternative embodiments, within its scope and including equivalents of the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:
1. A method of seed treatment comprising: applying a seed performance composition to a seed, wherein the seed performance composition comprises: at least one antioxidant, at least one bio-stimulant and a carrier, wherein the seed performance composition improves one or more metric of the seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the bio-stimulant comprises vitamins, thiamine, a- tocopherol, ascorbate, amino acids, tryptophan, or aloe vera extract, and combinations thereof.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the seed has been previously treated with one or more pesticides.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying one or more pesticides to the seed concurrently with applying the seed performance composition.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the seed performance composition further comprises one or more pesticides.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the seed performance composition is applied to the seed as a flowable liquid.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier comprises about 10-50% by weight of the seed performance composition.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier comprises hydroxy ethyl cellulose (HEC), hydroxyethyl propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), quillaja extract, xanthan gum, corn starch, or yucca extract, and combinations thereof.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the seed performance composition comprises about 0.5 to 2% by weight of antioxidant, about 50.1% by weight of bio- stimulant, and the remainder by weight of the carrier.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the antioxidant comprises glutathione and the biostimulant comprises thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, tryptophan, and aloe vera extract.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the seed performance composition comprises about 0.5- 2.0% by weight of glutathione, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of thiamine, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of a-tocopherol, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of ascorbate, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of tryptophan, about 50% by weight of aloe vera extract, and the remainder percent by weight of the carrier.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising mixing, vibrating, or agitating the seed during the applying.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the seed performance composition to the seed comprises a rate of about 1.000 - 5.000 Fl Oz/CWT of seed.
14. A seed performance composition comprising at least one antioxidant, at least one biostimulant and a carrier, wherein the seed performance composition after application to a seed improves one or more metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
15. The seed performance composition of claim 14, wherein the bio-stimulant comprises vitamins, thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, amino acids, tryptophan, or aloe vera extract, and combinations thereof.
16. The seed performance composition of claim 14, formulated as a flowable liquid or a dry powder.
17. The seed performance composition of claim 14, wherein the carrier comprises about 10- 50% by weight of the seed performance composition.
18. The seed performance composition of claim 14, wherein the carrier comprises hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), hydroxyethyl propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC), quillaja extract, xanthan gum, corn starch, or yucca extract, and combinations thereof.
19. The seed performance composition of claim 14, wherein the seed performance composition comprises about 0.5-2% by weight of the antioxidant, about 50.1% by weight of the bio- stimulant, and the remainder percent by weight of the carrier.
20. The seed performance composition of claim 19, wherein the at least one antioxidant comprises glutathione and the at least one bio-stimulant comprises thiamine, a-tocopherol, ascorbate, tryptophan, and aloe vera extract.
21. The seed performance composition of claim 20, wherein the seed performance composition comprises about 0.5-2.0% by weight of the glutathione, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of the thiamine, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of the a-tocopherol, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of the ascorbate, about 0.005-0.2% by weight of the tryptophan, about 50% by weight of the aloe vera extract, and the remainder percent by weight of the carrier.
22. The seed performance composition of claim 14, wherein the application of the seed performance composition to the seed comprises a rate of about 1.000 - 5.000 Fl Oz/CWT of seed.
23. The seed performance composition of claim 14, further comprising one or more pesticides.
24. A plant seed coated with the seed performance composition of any of claims 14-23.
25. A method for improving seed performance, comprising: planting the seed of claim 24 in a suitable growing medium, wherein the seed performance composition is present in an amount that improves a metric of seed performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
26. A method for improving one or both of plant growth and health, comprising: delivering to seed of a plant, roots of a plant, or soil or growth medium surrounding a plant, the seed performance composition of any of claims 14-23, wherein the composition is present in an amount that improves one or more metric of seed or plant performance including reducing days to germination, increasing germination rate, or increasing plant growth or yield.
27. The method of any of the foregoing claims, wherein the seed or the plant comprises soybean, peanut, com, cotton, pea, wheat, cereal, grass, oil, legumes, non-legumes, or vegetable plants, and combinations thereof.
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