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US 11,111,436 B2Granted
Soil additives for promoting seed germination, for prevention of evaporation and methods for use
AssigneeRhodia Operations
InventorsGalder Cristobal, Pascal Metivier, Jean-Christophe Castaing, Pengfei Ji, Zhiyun Chen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed are methods of improving germination rates of plants/crops, as well as preventing or arresting water evaporation loss from targeted soil areas, which allows for improved water usage efficiency by crops, plants, grasses, vegetation, etc.
Claims28
A method of decreasing water evaporation from soil, the method comprising:
- introducing a bulk additive to a target soil area, wherein the bulk additive is in an aqueous mixture or in a dry or semi-dry form;
- wherein the step of introducing the bulk additive to a target soil area comprises applying the bulk additive to the surface of target soil area then mixing the bulk additive into the target soil area at a predetermined depth less than three feet to block the water from migrating toward the soil surface to be susceptible to evaporation.
A method of improving germination rate of a plant or crop by decreasing water evaporation from a target soil area, the method comprising:
- introducing a bulk additive to a target soil area, wherein the bulk additive is in an aqueous mixture or in a dry or semi-dry form;
- wherein the step of introducing the bulk additive to a target soil area comprises applying the bulk additive to the surface of target soil area then mixing the bulk additive into the target soil area at a predetermined depth less than three feet to block the water from migrating toward the soil surface to be susceptible to evaporation,
- wherein the bulk additive is selected from the group consisting of polyacrylamide, poly(methacrylic acid), poly(acrylic acid), polyacrylate, poly(ethylene glycol), phosphonate-end capped polymers, polyethyleneoxide, poly(vinyl alcohol), polyglycerol, polytetrahydrofuran, polyamide, unwashed guar gum, washed guar gum, hydroxypropyl guar gum, carboxymethyl guar gum, carboxymethylhydroxypropyl guar gum, starch, corn, wheat, rice, potato, tapioca, waxy maize, sorghum, waxy sorghum, sago, dextrin, chitin, chitosan, alginate compositions, xanthan gum, carageenan gum, gum karaya, gum arabic, pectin, cellulose, hydroxycellulose, hydroxyalkyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, carboxymethylhydroxyethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, a derivative of any of the foregoing and a combination of any of the foregoing.
A method of decreasing water evaporation from soil, the method comprising:
- introducing a bulk additive to a target soil area, wherein the bulk additive is in an aqueous mixture or in a dry or semi-dry form;
- wherein the step of introducing the bulk additive to a target soil area comprises applying the bulk additive to the surface of target soil area then mixing the bulk additive into the target soil area at a predetermined depth less than three feet to block the water from migrating toward the soil surface to be susceptible to evaporation,
- wherein the soil is clay soil and the bulk additive is poly(acrylic acid).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.