Non-aqueous solution of plant-growth regulator(s) and polar and/or semi-polar organic solvent(s)

• US 10,104,883 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2016
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stoller Enterprises (Stoller Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Stoller Enterprises (Stoller Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stoller, Jerry, Sheth, Ritesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Padmanabhan, Sreenivasan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown, Courtney A
• Application Number:
  US14/995,434
• Publication Number:
  US 20160198714A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,013 Days
• Field of Search: 504136
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 7/06 Treatment of growing trees or plants, e.g. for preventing decay of wood, for tingeing flowers or wood, for prolonging the life of plants
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 25/02 containing liquids as carriers, diluents or solvents
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 25/30 characterised by the surfactants
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 31/02 Acyclic compounds
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 37/10 Aromatic or araliphatic carboxylic acids, or thio analogues thereof; Derivatives thereof
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 39/02 Aryloxy-carboxylic acids; Derivatives thereof
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 43/12 condensed with a carbocyclic ring
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 43/38 condensed with carbocyclic rings
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 43/90 having two or more relevant hetero rings, condensed among themselves or with a common carbocyclic ring system
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 45/00 Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators, containing compounds having three or more carbocyclic rings condensed among themselves, at least one ring not being a six-membered ring halogenated hydrocarbons A01N29/08; condensed with heterocyclic rings A01N43/00
• CPC Class Codes: A01N 49/00 Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators, containing compounds containing the group , wherein m+n>=1, both X together may also mean —Y— or a direct carbon-to-carbon bond, and the carbon atoms marked with an asterisk are not part of any ring system other than that which may be formed by the atoms X, the carbon atoms in square brackets being part of any acyclic or cyclic structure, or the group , wherein A means a carbon atom or Y, n>=0, and not more than one of these carbon atoms being a member of the same ring system, e.g. juvenile insect hormones or mimics thereof containing hydrocarbons A01N27/00
• CPC Class Codes: A01P 21/00 Plant growth regulators
• CPC Class Codes: C05C 11/00 Other nitrogenous fertilisers

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to non-aqueous solutions of plant growth regulator(s) and polar and/or semi-polar organic solvent(s), methods for making said non-aqueous solution, and methods for improving the growth and crop productivity of plants using said non-aqueous solution.

Claims

1. A non-aqueous solution comprising:

a) a plant growth regulator mixture including 0.001 to 1 wt. % at least one auxin, 0.001-0.3 wt. % at least one gibberellin, and 0.001-0.3 wt. % at least one cytokinin;

b) at least one organic solvent selected from the group consisting of ethanol, n-propanol, iso-propanol, ethyl lactate, 3-hydroxybutyrate (ethyl and propyl esters), glycols, glycerol, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, propylene carbonate and combinations thereof; and

c) optionally at least one mineral, optionally at least one surfactant, optionally at least one antifoam, optionally at least one preservative, and optionally combinations thereof, and

d) less than 5 wt. % water;

wherein said non-aqueous solution is stable and said at least one organic solvent and said less than 5 wt. % water are the only solvents present in said non-aqueous solution.

3. The non-aqueous solution of claim 1, wherein said organic solvent is polyethylene glycol.

4. The non-aqueous solution of claim 1 wherein said organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of iso-propanol, ethyl lactate, glycerol, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol and combinations thereof.

5. The non-aqueous solution of claim 1, wherein said organic solvent is propylene glycol.

6. The non-aqueous solution of claim 1, wherein said auxin is selected from the group consisting of natural auxins, synthetic auxins, auxin metabolites, auxin conjugates, auxin precursors, auxin derivatives and mixtures thereof.

7. The non-aqueous solution of claim 6, wherein said auxin is selected from the group consisting of indole-3-acetic acid, indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), indole 3-propionic acid, indole-3-butyric acid, phenylacetic acid, naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid, 4-chloroindole-3-acetic acid, 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy acetic acid, 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxy acetic acid, 2,3,6-trichlorobenzoic acid, 2,4,6-trichlorobenzoic acid, 4-amino-3,4,5-trichloropicolinic acid and mixtures thereof.

8. The non-aqueous solution of claim 7, wherein said auxin is indole-3-acetic acid, indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), or mixtures thereof.

12. The non-aqueous solution of claim 1, wherein said auxin and said at least one additional plant growth regulators retain at least 90% activity after 14 days of Accelerated Storage Stability Testing.

14. A formulation including said non-aqueous solution of claim 1 and at least one nitrogen-containing fertilizer.

2. A non-aqueous solution comprising:

a) a plant growth regulators mixture including 0.005 to 1 wt. % at least one auxin, 0.005-0.11 wt. % at least one gibberellin, and 0.0015-0.165 wt. % at least one cytokinin;

b) at least one organic solvent selected from the group consisting of ethanol, n-propanol, iso-propanol, ethyl lactate, 3-hydroxybutyrate (ethyl and propyl esters), glycols, glycerol, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, propylene carbonate and combinations thereof; and

c) optionally at least one mineral, optionally at least one surfactant, optionally at least one antifoams, optionally at least one preservative, and optionally combinations thereof, and

d) less than 5 wt. % water;

wherein said non-aqueous solution is stable and said at least one organic solvent and said less than 5 wt. % water are the only solvents present in said non-aqueous solution.

9. The non-aqueous solution of claim 2, wherein said cytokinin is selected from the group consisting of zeatin, various forms of zeatin, N6-benzyl adenine, N6-(delta-2-isopentyl) adenine, 1,3-diphenyl urea, thidiazuron, CPPU (forchlorfenuron), kinetin, other chemical formulations with cytokinin activity, and mixtures thereof.

10. The non-aqueous solution of claim 2, wherein said gibberellin is selected from the group consisting of:

GAi, GA2, GA₃, GA4, GA5, GA6, GA7, GA₈, GA9, GA10, GA11, GA,2, GA,₃, GA,₄, GA,₅, GA₁₆, GA₁₇, GA,₈, GA₁₉, GA₂₀, GA₂i, GA₂₂, GA₂₃, GA₂₄, GA₂₅, GA₂₆, GA₂₇, GA₂₈, GA₂₉, GA₃₀, GA₃₁, GA₃₂, GA₃₃, GA₃₄, GA₃₅, GA₃₆, GA₃₇, GA₃₈, GA₃₉, GA₄₀, GA₄₁, GA₄₂, GA₄₃, GA₄₄, GA₄₅, GA₄₅, GA₄₇, GA48, GA₄₉, GAso, GA₅₁, GA₅₂, GA₅₃, GA₅₄, GA₅₅, GA₅₆, GA₅₇, GA₅₈, GA₅₉, GA₆₀, GA₆₁, GA₆₂, GA₆₃, GA₆₄, GA₆5, GA₆6, GA₆₇, GA₆₈, GA₆₉, GA₇₀, GA71, GA₇₂, GA₇₃, GA₇₄, GA₇₅, GA₇₆, GA₇₇, GA₇₈, GA₇₉, GA₈₀, GA₈i, GA₈₂, GA₈₃, GA₈, GA₈₅, GA₈₆, GA₈₇, GA₈₈, GA₈₉, GA₉o, GA₉i, GA₉₂, GA₉₃, GA₉₄, GA₉₅, GA₉₆, GA₉₇, GA₉₈, GA^, GA100, GA101, GA₎₀₂, GAio₃, GA104, GA105, GA106, GAio₇, GAios, GAi₀₉, GAno, GAm, GAn₂, GA113, GA| i₄, GA115, GA116, GAi i7, GAi is, GAn₉, GAno, GAi₂i, GAi₂₂, GAi₂₃, GAi₂₄, GAi₂₅, GAi26, and mixtures thereof.

11. The non-aqueous solution of claim 2, wherein said auxin, said gibberellin, and said cytokinin retain at least 90% activity after 14 days of Accelerated Storage Stability Testing.

13. The non-aqueous solution of claim 2, wherein the only plant growth regulators are indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), gibberellic acid (GA₃), and kinetin.

15. The non-aqueous solution of claim 2, wherein the only plant growth regulators are at least one auxin, at least one gibberellin, and at least one cytokinin.

16. The non-aqueous solution of claim 15, wherein said organic solvent is propylene glycol.

17. The non-aqueous solution of claim 2, wherein said organic solvent is propylene glycol.

18. A non-aqueous solution consisting of:

d) a plant growth regulator mixture including at least one auxin and at least one additional plant growth regulators;

e) at least one organic solvent selected from the group consisting of ethanol, n-propanol, iso-propanol, ethyl lactate, 3-hydroxybutyrate (ethyl and propyl esters), glycols, glycerol, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, propylene carbonate and combinations thereof; and

f) optionally at least one mineral, optionally at least one surfactant, optionally at least one antifoam, optionally at least one preservative, and optionally combinations thereof, and

d) less than 5 wt. % water;

wherein said non-aqueous solution is stable and said at least one organic solvent and said less than 5 wt. % water are the only solvents present in said non-aqueous solution.

19. The non-aqueous solution of claim 18, wherein said additional plant growth regulators are selected from the group consisting of cytokinin and gibberellin as the only plant growth regulators.

20. The non-aqueous solution of claim 19, wherein said solution includes 0.005 to 1 wt. % auxin, 0-0.165 wt. % cytokinin, and 0-0.11 wt. % gibberellin as the only plant growth regulators.