Compositions and methods for indirectly reducing incidence of fungal pathogen activity in plants

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11134688-B2
Application number	US-202016878164-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2020
Priority date	Sep 13, 2018
Publication date	Oct 5, 2021
Grant date	Oct 5, 2021

Abstract

Compositions and methods for indirectly reducing incidence of fungal pathogen infection in a plant are disclosed, wherein the fungal pathogen may be Botrytis, Macrophomina, Rhizoctonia, Sclerotinia, or Verticillium. The compositions comprise pasteurized microalgae cells in an amount effective to reduce incidence of the fungal pathogen in a plant compared to a substantially identical population of untreated plants. The composition treatment can include at least one microalgae such as Aurantiochytrium, Galdieria, Scenedesmus, Haematococcus, Isochrysis, Spirulina or any combination thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A liquid agriculture composition for administering to soil in the immediate vicinity of a plant, seedling, or seed, the liquid composition comprising an amount of pasteurized microalgae cells that is effective to reduce incidence of a fungal pathogen in the plant compared to a substantially identical population of untreated plants, wherein the pasteurized microalgae cells comprise pasteurized Aurantiochytrium cells subjected to an extraction process to remove oils from the Aurantiochytrium cells, and wherein the fungal pathogen is one of Botrytis, Macrophomina, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum , and Verticillium wherein the pasteurized Aurantiochytrium cells are pasteurized at a temperature ranging from 50° C. up to 90° C..

2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the pasteurized Aurantiochytrium cells are harvested when the Aurantiochytrium cells comprise approximately 60% lipid.

3. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the pasteurized Aurantiochytrium cells are harvested when the Aurantiochytrium cells comprise approximately 45% lipid.

4. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the pasteurized Aurantiochytrium cells are harvested when the Aurantiochytrium cells comprise less than 40% lipid.

5. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition includes 0.0001-1% by weight of the microalgae biomass or extract.

6. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition includes 5-30% solids by weight of microalgae cells.

7. An agriculture composition for administering to soil in the immediate vicinity of a plant, seedling, or seed, the liquid composition comprising an amount of pasteurized microalgae cells that is effective to reduce incidence of a fungal pathogen in the plant compared to a substantially identical population of untreated plants,
the composition comprising at least one of:
pasteurized Galdieria cells that have been grown in axenic mixotrophic conditions,
pasteurized Spirulina cells that have been grown in non-axenic phototrophic conditions,
pasteurized Isochrysis cells that have been grown in non-axenic phototrophic conditions, and
pasteurized Aurantiochytrium cells that have been grown in non-axenic heterotrophic conditions and harvested when the Aurantiochytrium cells comprise approximately 60% lipid,
wherein the at least one of the pasteurized Aurantiochytrium cells, pasteurized Galdieria cells, pasteurized Isochrysis cells, and pasteurized Spirulina cells are pasteurized at a temperature ranging from 50° C. up to 90° C.

8. The composition of claim 7 wherein the fungal pathogen is one of Botrytis, Macrophomina, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum , and Verticillium.

9. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the composition is a liquid composition.

10. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the composition includes 0.0001-1% by weight of microalgae biomass or extract.

11. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the composition includes 5-30% solids by weight of the microalgae cells.

12. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the composition comprises pasteurized Spirulina cells that have been grown in non-axenic phototrophic conditions.

13. An agriculture composition for administering to soil in the immediate vicinity of a plant, seedling, or seed, the liquid composition comprising an amount of pasteurized microalgae cells that is effective to reduce incidence of a fungal pathogen in the plant compared to a substantially identical population of untreated plants, the composition comprising at least one of pasteurized Aurantiochytrium cells, pasteurized Galdieria cells, pasteurized Haematococcus cells, pasteurized Isochrysis cells, and pasteurized Spirulina cells, wherein the at least one of the pasteurized Aurantiochytrium cells, pasteurized Galdieria cells, pasteurized Haematococcus cells, pasteurized Isochrysis cells, and pasteurized Spirulina cells are pasteurized at a temperature ranging from 50° C. up to 90° C., and wherein the fungal pathogen is one of Botrytis, Macrophomina, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum , and Verticillium and the composition further comprises a stabilizer to prevent proliferation of unwanted contaminants in the composition, and wherein the stabilizer is at least one of potassium sorbate, phosphoric acid, ascorbic acid, sodium benzoate and citric acid.

14. The composition of claim 13 , wherein the composition is a liquid composition.

15. The composition of claim 13 , wherein the composition includes 0.0001-1% by weight of microalgae biomass or extract.

16. The composition of claim 13 , wherein the composition includes 5-30% solids by weight of the microalgae cells.

17. The composition of claim 13 , wherein the composition comprises pasteurized Spirulina cells.

18. The composition of claim 13 , wherein the composition comprises pasteurized Aurantiochytrium cells.

Assignees

• Heliae Dev Llc

Inventors

• Carney Laura
• Jauregui Edgard
• Miller Michael

Classifications

• A01N63/30 Primary

  Microbial fungi; Substances produced thereby or obtained therefrom · CPC title

• A01N65/03

  Algae · CPC title

• A01N25/02

  containing liquids as carriers, diluents or solvents · CPC title