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WO2010046421A1 - Use of GABA-gated chloride channel antagonists on cultivated plants - Google Patents

Use of GABA-gated chloride channel antagonists on cultivated plants Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2010046421A1
WO2010046421A1 PCT/EP2009/063856 EP2009063856W WO2010046421A1 WO 2010046421 A1 WO2010046421 A1 WO 2010046421A1 EP 2009063856 W EP2009063856 W EP 2009063856W WO 2010046421 A1 WO2010046421 A1 WO 2010046421A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
plant
plants
gaba
health
cultivated
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2009/063856
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Markus Gewehr
Robert John Gladwin
Jürgen Logemann
Pilar Puente
Maarten Hendrik Stuiver
Dirk Voeste
Original Assignee
Basf Se
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Publication of WO2010046421A1 publication Critical patent/WO2010046421A1/en

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01H—NEW PLANTS OR NON-TRANSGENIC PROCESSES FOR OBTAINING THEM; PLANT REPRODUCTION BY TISSUE CULTURE TECHNIQUES
    • A01H3/00—Processes for modifying phenotypes, e.g. symbiosis with bacteria
    • A01H3/04—Processes for modifying phenotypes, e.g. symbiosis with bacteria by treatment with chemicals
    • 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
    • A01N29/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing halogenated hydrocarbons
    • A01N29/04—Halogen directly attached to a carbocyclic ring system
    • 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
    • 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
    • A01N43/48—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing heterocyclic compounds having rings with two nitrogen atoms as the only ring hetero atoms
    • A01N43/60—1,4-Diazines; Hydrogenated 1,4-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
    • 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
    • A01N47/02—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 no bond to a nitrogen atom

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method for controlling pests and/or increasing the plant health in cultivated plants as compared to a corresponding control plant by comprising the application of a GABA-gated chloride channel antagonist (hereinafter referred to as "GABA") to the plant parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth, wherein the GABA is selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5- amino-1 -(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide.
  • GABA GABA-gated chloride channel antagonist
  • pests embrace animal pests (such as insects, acarids or nematodes).
  • animal pests include, but are not limited to the following genera and species:
  • insects from the order of the lepidopterans for example Agrotis ypsilon, Agrotis segetum, Alabama argillacea, Anticarsia gemmatalis, Argyresthia conjugella, Autographa gamma, Bupalus piniarius, Cacoecia murinana, Capua reticulana, Cheima- tobia brumata, Choristoneura fumiferana, Choristoneura occidentalis, Cirphis unipuncta, Cydia pomonella, Dendrolimus pini, Diaphania nitidalis, Diatraea grand /- osella, Earias insulana, Elasmopalpus lignosellus, Eupoecilia ambiguella, Evetria bou- liana, Feltia subterranea, Galleria mellonella, Grapholitha funebrana, Grapholitha mo- lesta,
  • Dichromothrips corbetti Dichromothrips ssp, Frankliniella fusca, Frankliniella occidentalis, Frankliniella tritici, Scirtothrips citri, Thrips oryzae, Thrips palmi and Thrips tabaci, termites (Isoptera), e.g. Calotermes flavicollis, Leucotermes flavipes, Heterotermes aureus, Reticulitermes flavipes, Reticulitermes virginicus, Reticulitermes lucifugus, Termes natalensis and Coptotermes formosanus, cockroaches (Blattaria - Blattodea), e.g.
  • Blattella germanica Blattella asahinae, Peri- planeta americana, Periplaneta japonica, Periplaneta brunnea, Periplaneta fuligginosa, Periplaneta australasiae and Blatta orientalis, true bugs (Hemiptera), e.g.
  • ants bees, wasps, sawflies (Hymenoptera), e.g. Athalia rosae, Atta cephalotes, Atta capiguara, Atta cephalotes, Atta laevigata, Atta robusta, Atta sexdens, Atta texana, Crematogasterspp., Hoplocampa minuta, Hoplocampa testudinea, Monomorium pha- raonis, Solenopsis geminata, Solenopsis invicta, Solenopsis richteri, Solenopsis xyloni, Pogonomyrmex barbatus, Pogonomyrmex californicus, Pheidole megacephala, Dasy- mutilla occidentalis, Bombus spp.
  • Hoplocampa minuta Hoplocampa testudinea
  • Monomorium pha- raonis Solenopsis geminata
  • Vespula squamosa Paravespula vulgaris, Paraves- pula pennsylvanica, Paravespula germanica, Dolichovespula maculata, Vespa crabro, Polistes rubiginosa, Camponotus floridanus and Linepithema humile, crickets, grasshoppers, locusts (Orthoptera), e.g.
  • Arachnoidea such as arachnids (Acarina), e.g.
  • Argasidae Ixodidae and Sarcoptidae, such as Amblyomma americanum, Amblyomma variegatum, Ambryomma macu latum, Argas persicus, Boophilus annulatus, Boophilus decoloratus, Boophilus microplus, Dermacentor silvarum, Dermacentor audersoni, Dermacentor variabilis, Hyalomma truncatum, Ixodes ricinus, Ixodes rubicundus, Ixodes scapularis, Ixodes holocyclus, Ixodes pacificus, Omithodorus moubata, Omithodorus hermsi, Omithodo- rus turicata, Omithonyssus bacoti, Otobius megnini, Dermanyssus gallinae, Psoroptes ovis, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus
  • Triggerpidae spp. such as Brevipalpus phoenicis
  • Tetra- nychidae spp. such as Tetranychus cinnabarinus, Tetranychus kanzawai, Tetranychus pacificus, Tetranychus telarius and Tetranychus urticae, Panonychus ulmi, Panony- chus citri and Oligonychus pratensis; Araneida, e.g.
  • Earwigs (DermapteraJ, e.g. forficula auricularia, lice (Phthiraptera), e.g. Pediculus humanus capitis, Pediculus humanus corporis, Pthi- rus pubis, Haematopinus eurystemus, Haematopinus suis, Linognathus vituli, Bovicola bovis, Menopon gallinae, Menacanthus stramineus and Solenopotes capillatus, plant parasitic nematodes such as root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne arenaria, Meloi- dogyne chitwoodi, Meloidogyne exigua, Meloidogyne hapla, Meloidogyne incognita, Meloidogyne javanica and other Meloidogyne species; cyst nematodes, Globodera rostochiensis, Globodera
  • plant health comprises various sorts of improvements of plants that are not connected to the control of pests and which do not embrace the re- duction of negative consequences of harmful insects.
  • plant health is to be understood to denote a condition of the plant and/or its products which is determined by several indicators alone or in combination with each other such as yield (e.g. increased biomass and/or increased content of valuable ingredients), plant vigor (e.g. improved plant growth and/or greener leaves ("greening effect"), quality (e.g. improved content or composition of certain ingredients) and tolerance to abiotic and/or biotic stress.
  • yield e.g. increased biomass and/or increased content of valuable ingredients
  • plant vigor e.g. improved plant growth and/or greener leaves ("greening effect")
  • quality e.g. improved content or composition of certain ingredients
  • tolerance to abiotic and/or biotic stress e.g. improved content or composition of certain ingredients
  • a) the use of a GABA as defined above in combination with a cultivated plant exceeds the additive effect, to be expected on the pest to be controlled and thus extends the range of action of the GABA and of the active principle expressed by the cultivated plan ⁇ and/or b) such use results in an increased plant health effect in such cultivated plants compared to the plant health effects that are possible with the GABA, when applied to the non-cultivated plant; and/or c) the GABA induces "side effects" in the cultivated plant which increases plant health, as compared to the respective control plant, additionally to the primary mode of action, meaning the insecticidal activity; and/or d) the GABA induces "side effects" additionally to the primary mode of action, meaning the insecticidal activity in the control plant which are detrimental to the plant health compared to a control plant which is not treated with said compound. In combination with the cultivated plant these negative side effects are reduced, nullified or converted to an increase of the plant health of the cultivated plant compared to a cultivated plant not treated with said compound
  • synergistic is to be understood in this context as synergistic insecti- cidal activity and/or the synergistic increase of plant health.
  • the application of at least one GABA as defined above to cultivated plants leads to a synergistically enhanced action against harmful insects compared to the control rates that are possible with the GABA as defined above in non-cultivated plants and/or leads to an synergistic increase in the health of a plant when applied to a cultivated plant, parts of a plant, plant propagation material, or to their locus of growth.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of a cultivated plant by treating a cultivated plant, parts of a plant, plant propagation material, or to their locus of growth with a GABA selected from the group consisting endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3- carbothioic acid amide, more preferably endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
  • a GABA selected from the group consisting endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4
  • GABAs are known as insecticides.
  • the commercially available compounds may be found in The Pesticide Manual, 13th Edition, British Crop Protection Council (2003) among other publications.
  • plant propagation material is to be understood to denote all the generative parts of a plant such as seeds and vegetative plant material such as cuttings and tubers (e.g. potatoes), which can be used for the multiplication of the plant. This includes seeds, roots, fruits, tubers, bulbs, rhizomes, shoots, sprouts and other parts of plants, including seedlings and young plants, which are to be transplanted after germination or after emergence from soil. These young plants may also be protected before transplan- tation by a total or partial treatment by immersion or pouring.
  • the term plant propagation material denotes seeds.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of a cultivated plant by treating plant propagation material, preferably seeds with a selected from endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4- methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
  • the present invention also comprises plant propagation material, preferably seed, of a cultivated plant treated with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl- phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl- phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably endosulfan,
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of a cultivated plant by treating the cultivated plant, part(s) of such plant or at its locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5- amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5- amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-
  • the present invention relates to a composition
  • a composition comprising a pesticide and a cultivated plant or parts or cells thereof, wherein the pesticide is a GABA, preferably selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl- phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably with a GABA selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
  • a GABA preferably selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
  • compositions may include other pesticides and other GABAs or several of the GABAs of the group described in the previous sentence.
  • Said compositions may include substances used in plant protection, and in particular in formulation of plant protection products.
  • the composition of the invention may comprise live plant material or plant material unable to propagate or both.
  • the composition may contain plant material from more than one plant.
  • the ratio of plant material from at least one cultivated plant to pesticide on a weight per weight basis is greater then 10 to 1 , preferably greater thani 00 to 1 or more preferably greater than 1000 to 1 , even more preferably greater than 10 000 to 1. In some cases a ratio of greater than 100000 or million to one is utmostly preferred.
  • agricultural composition is to be understood, that such a composition is in agreement with the laws regulating the content of fungicides, plant nutrients, herbicides etc. Preferably such a composition is without any harm to the protected plants and/or the animals (humans included) fed therewith.
  • the present invention relates to a method for the production of an agricultural product comprising the application of a pesticide to cultivated plants with at least one modification, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth, and producing the agricultural product from said plants parts of such plants or plant propagation materials, wherein the pesticide is a GABA preferably selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, va- niliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4- sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably with a GABA selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
  • the pesticide is a GABA preferably selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and
  • the term "agricultural product” is defined as the output of the cultivation of the soil, for example grain, forage, fruit, fiber, flower, pollen, leaves, tuber, root, beet or seed.
  • the term "agricultural product” is defined according to USDA's (U.S. Department of Agriculture) definition of "agricultural products”.
  • “agricultural product” are understood “food and fiber” products, which cover a broad range of goods from unprocessed bulk commodities like soybeans, feed corn, wheat, rice, and raw cotton to highly-processed, high-value foods and beverages like sausages, bakery goods, ice cream, beer and wine, and condiments sold in retail stores and restaurants.
  • "agricultural product” are products found in Chapters 4, 6-15, 17-21 , 23-24, Chapter 33, and Chapter 52 of the U.S.
  • Agricultural products according to the inventionwithin these chapters preferably fall into the following categories: grains, animal feeds, and grain products (like bread and pasta); oilseeds and oilseed products (like soybean oil and olive oil); horticultural products including all fresh and processed fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, as well as nursery products, unmanufactured tobacco; and tropical products like sugar, cocoa and coffee.
  • "agricultural product” is a product selected from the group of products as found in the U.S.
  • Harmonized Tariff Schedule under the items: 0409, 0601 to 0604, 0701 to 0714, 0801 to 0814, 0901 to 0910, 1001 to 1008, 1 101 to 1 109, 1201 to 1214, 1301 to 1302, 14 01 to 1404, 1507 to 1522, 1701 to 1704, 1801 to 1806, 1901 to 1905, 2001 to 2009, 2101 to 2106, 2302 to 2309, 2401 to 2403, 3301 , 5201 to 5203.
  • cultivación plant(s) refers to "modified plant(s)" and "transgenic plant(s)". In one embodiment of the invention, the term “cultivated plants” refers to "modified plants”. In one embodiment of the invention, the term “cultivated plants” refers to "transgenic plants”. "Modified plants” are those which have been modified by conventional breeding techniques. The term “modification” means in relation to modified plants a change in the genome, epigenome, transcriptome or proteome of the modified plant, as com- pared to the control, wild type, mother or parent plant whereby the modification confers a trait (or more than one trait) or confers the increase of a trait (or more than one trait) as listed below.
  • Transgenic plants are those, which genetic material has been modified by the use of recombinant DNA techniques that under natural circumstances can not readily be obtained by cross breeding, mutations or natural recombination, whereby the modification confers a trait (or more than one trait) or confers the increase of a trait (or more than one trait) as listed below as compared to the wild-type plant.
  • one or more genes have been integrated into the genetic material of a genetically modified plant in order to improve certain properties of the plant, preferably increase a trait as listed below as compared to the wild-type plant.
  • Such genetic modifications also include but are not limited to targeted post-translational modification of protein(s), or to post-transcriptional modifications of oligo- or polypeptides e.g. by glycosylation or polymer additions such as prenylated, acetylated, phosphorylated or farnesylated moieties or PEG moieties.
  • modification when reffering to a transgenic plant or parts thereof is understood that the activity, expression level or amount of a gene product or the metabolite content is changed, e.g. increased or decreased, in a specific volume relative to a corresponding volume of a control, reference or wild-type plant or plant cell, including the de novo creation of the activity or expression.
  • the activity of a polypeptide is increased or generated by expression or overexpresion of the gene coding for said polypeptide which confers a trait or confers the increase of a trait as listed below as compared to the control plant.
  • expression or “gene expression” means the transcription of a specific gene or specific genes or specific genetic construct.
  • expression or “gene expression” in particular means the transcription of a gene or genes or genetic construct into structural RNA (rRNA, tRNA), regulatory RNA (e.g. miRNA, RNAi, RNAa) or mRNA with or without subsequent translation of the latter into a protein.
  • expression in particular means the transcription of a gene or genes or genetic construct into structural RNA (rRNA, tRNA) or mRNA with or without subsequent translation of the latter into a protein.
  • it means the transcription of a gene or genes or genetic construct into mRNA.
  • the process includes transcription of DNA and processing of the resulting mRNA product.
  • increased expression or “overexpression” as used herein means any form of expression that is additional to the original wild-type expression level.
  • expression of a polypeptide is understood in one embodiment to mean the level of said protein or polypeptide, preferably in an active form, in a cell or organism.
  • the activity of a polypeptide is decreased by decreased expression of the gene coding for said polypeptide which confers a trait or confers the increase of a trait as listed below as compared to the control plant.
  • Reference herein to "decreased expression” or “reduction or substantial elimination” of expression is taken to mean a decrease in endogenous gene expression and/or polypeptide levels and/or polypeptide activity relative to control plants. It comprises further reducing, repressing, decreasing or deleting of an expression product of a nucleic acid molecule.
  • reduction relate to a corresponding change of a property in an organism, a part of an organism such as a tissue, seed, root, tuber, fruit, leave, flower etc. or in a cell.
  • change of a property it is understood that the activity, expression level or amount of a gene product or the metabolite content is changed in a specific volume or in a specific amount of protein relative to a corresponding volume or amount of protein of a control, reference or wild type.
  • the overall activity in the volume is reduced, decreased or deleted in cases if the reduction, decrease or deletion is related to the reduction, decrease or deletion of an activity of a gene product, independent whether the amount of gene product or the specific activity of the gene product or both is reduced, decreased or deleted or whether the amount, stability or translation efficacy of the nucleic acid sequence or gene encoding for the gene product is reduced, decreased or deleted.
  • reduction include the change of said property in only parts of the subject of the present invention, for example, the modification can be found in compartment of a cell, like an organelle, or in a part of a plant, like tissue, seed, root, leave, tuber, fruit, flower etc. but is not detectable if the overall subject, i.e. complete cell or plant, is tested.
  • the "reduction”, “repression”, “decrease” or “deletion” is found cellular, thus the term “reduction, decrease or deletion of an activity” or “reduction, decrease or deletion of a metabolite content” relates to the cellular reduction, decrease or deletion compared to the wild type cell.
  • the terms “reduction”, “repression”, “decrease” or “deletion” include the change of said property only during different growth phases of the organism used in the inventive process, for example the reduction, repression, decrease or deletion takes place only during the seed growth or during blooming.
  • the terms include a transitional reduction, decrease or deletion for example because the used method, e.g. the an- tisense, RNAi, snRNA, dsRNA, siRNA, miRNA, ta-siRNA, cosuppression molecule, or ribozyme, is not stable integrated in the genome of the organism or the reduction, decrease, repression or deletion is under control of a regulatory or inducible element, e.g.
  • Reducing, repressing, decreasing or deleting of an expression product of a nucleic acid molecule in modified plants is known.
  • Examples are canola i.e. double nill oilseed rape with reduced amounts of erucic acid and sinapins.
  • Such a decrease can also be achieved for example by the use of recombinant DNA technology, such as antisense or regulatory RNA (e.g. miRNA, RNAi, RNAa) or siRNA approaches.
  • RNAi, snRNA, dsRNA, siRNA, miRNA, ta-siRNA, cosuppres- sion molecule, ribozyme, or antisense nucleic acid molecule a nucleic acid molecule conferring the expression of a dominant-negative mutant of a protein or a nucleic acid construct capable to recombine with and silence, inactivate, repress or reduces the activity of an endogenous gene may be used to decrease the activity of a polypeptide in a transgenic plant or parts thereof or a plant cell thereof used in one embodiment of the methods of the invention.
  • transgenic plants with reduced, repressed, decreased or deleted expression product of a nucleic acid molecule are Carica papaya (Papaya plants) with the event name X17-2 of the University of Florida, Prunus domes- tica (Plum) with the event name C5 of the United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service, or those listed in rows T9-48 and T9-49 of table 9 below. Also known are plants with increased resistance to nematodes for example by reducing, repressing, decreasing or deleting of an expression product of a nucleic acid molecule, e.g. from the PCT publication WO 2008/095886.
  • the reduction or substantial elimination is in increasing order of preference at least 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% or 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more reduced compared to that of control plants.
  • Reference herein to an "en- dogenous" gene not only refers to the gene in question as found in a plant in its natural form (i.e., without there being any human intervention), but also refers to that same gene (or a substantially homologous nucleic acid/gene) in an isolated form subsequently (re)introduced into a plant (a transgene).
  • a transgenic plant containing such a transgene may encounter a substantial reduction of the transgene ex- pression and/or substantial reduction of expression of the endogenous gene.
  • control or “reference” are exchangeable and can be a cell or a part of a plant such as an organelle like a chloroplast or a tissue, in particular a plant, which was not modified or treated according to the herein described process according to the invention. Accordingly, the plant used as control or reference corresponds to the plant as much as possible and is as identical to the subject matter of the invention as possible. Thus, the control or reference is treated identically or as identical as possible, saying that only conditions or properties might be different which do not influence the quality of the tested property other than the treatment of the present invention.
  • control or reference plants are wild-type plants.
  • control or reference plants may refer to plants carrying at least one genetic modification, when the plants employed in the process of the present invention carry at least one genetic modification more than said control or reference plants.
  • control or reference plants may be transgenic but differ from transgenic plants employed in the process of the present invention only by said modification contained in the transgenic plants employed in the process of the present invention.
  • wild type or wild-type plants refers to a plant without said genetic modification. These terms can refer to a cell or a part of a plant such as an organelle like a chloroplast or a tissue, in particular a plant, which lacks said genetic modification but is otherwise as identical as possible to the plants with at least one genetic modification employed in the present invention. In a particular embodiment the "wild-type" plant is not transgenic.
  • the wild type is identically treated according to the herein described process according to the invention.
  • the person skilled in the art will recognize if wild-type plants will not require certain treatments in advance to the process of the present invention, e.g. non-transgenic wild-type plants will not need selection for transgenic plants for example by treatment with a selecting agent such as a herbicide.
  • the control plant may also be a nullizygote of the plant to be assessed.
  • nullizygote refers to a plant that has undergone the same production process as a transgenic, yet has not acquired the same genetic modification as the corresponding transgenic. If the starting material of said production process is transgenic, then nul- lizygotes are also transgenic but lack the additional genetic modification introduced by the production process.
  • the purpose of wild-type and nullizygotes is the same as the one for control and reference or parts thereof. All of these serve as controls in any comparison to provide evidence of the advantageous effect of the present invention.
  • any comparison is carried out under analogous conditions.
  • analogous conditions means that all conditions such as, for example, culture or growing conditions, soil, nutrient, water content of the soil, temperature, humidity or surrounding air or soil, assay conditions (such as buffer composition, temperature, sub- strates, pathogen strain, concentrations and the like) are kept identical between the experiments to be compared.
  • assay conditions such as buffer composition, temperature, sub- strates, pathogen strain, concentrations and the like
  • wild-type, control or reference plants will not require certain treatments in advance to the process of the present invention, e.g. non-transgenic wild-type plants will not need selection for transgenic plants for example by treatment with herbicide.
  • the results can be normalized or standardized based on the control.
  • the "reference”, “control”, or “wild type” is preferably a plant, which was not modified or treated according to the herein described process of the invention and is in any other property as similar to a plant, employed in the process of the present invention of the invention as possible.
  • the reference, control or wild type is in its genome, transcrip- tome, proteome or metabolome as similar as possible to a plant, employed in the process of the present invention of the present invention.
  • the term “reference-" "control-” or “wild-type-” plant relates to a plant, which is nearly genetically identical to the organelle, cell, tissue or organism, in particular plant, of the present invention or a part thereof preferably 90% or more, e.g.
  • the "reference”, “control”, or “wild type” is a plant, which is genetically identical to the plant, cell, a tissue or organelle used according to the process of the invention except that the responsible or activity conferring nu- cleic acid molecules or the gene product encoded by them have been amended, manipulated, exchanged or introduced in the organelle, cell, tissue, plant, employed in the process of the present invention.
  • the reference and the subject matter of the invention are compared after standardization and normalization, e.g. to the amount of total RNA, DNA, or protein or activity or expression of reference genes, like housekeeping genes, such as ubiquitin, actin or ribosomal proteins.
  • the genetic modification carried in the organelle, cell, tissue, in particular plant used in the process of the present invention is in one embodiment stable e.g. due to a stable transgenic expression or to a stable mutation in the corresponding endogenous gene or to a modulation of the expression or of the behaviour of a gene, or transient, e.g. due to an transient transformation or temporary addition of a modulator such as an agonist or antagonist or inducible, e.g. after transformation with a inducible construct carrying a nucleic acid molecule under control of a inducible promoter and adding the inducer, e.g. tetracycline.
  • a modulator such as an agonist or antagonist or inducible
  • preferred plants from which "modified plants” and/or “transgenic plants” are be selected from the group consisting of cereals, such as maize (corn), wheat, barley sorghum, rice, rye, millet, triticale, oat, pseudocereals (such as buckwheat and quinoa), alfalfa, apples, banana, beet, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, canola (rapeseed), carrot, cauliflower, cherries, chickpea, Chinese cabbage, Chinese mustard, collard, cotton, cranberries, creeping bentgrass, cucumber, eggplant, flax, grape, grapefruit, kale, kiwi, kohlrabi, melon, mizuna, mustard, papaya, peanut, pears, pepper, persimmons, pigeonpea, pineapple, plum, potato, raspberry, rutabaga, soybean, squash, strawberries, sugar beet, sugarcane, sunflower, sweet corn, tobacco, tomato, turnip, walnut, watermel
  • the cultivated plant is a gymnosperm plant, especially a spruce, pine or fir.
  • the cultivated plant is selected from the families Aceraceae, Ana- cardiaceae, Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Cactaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphor- biaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Nymphaeaceae, Papaveraceae, Rosaceae, Salica- ceae, Solanaceae, Arecaceae, Bromeliaceae, Cyperaceae, Iridaceae, Liliaceae, Orchi- daceae, Gentianaceae, Labiaceae, Magnoliaceae, Ranunculaceae, Carifolaceae, Rubiaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Ericaceae, Polygonaceae, Violaceae, Juncaceae or Poaceae and preferably from a plant selected from the group of the fami- lies Apiaceae, As-teraceae, Brassicaceae, Cu
  • foliosa Brassica nigra, Brassica sinapioides, Melanos- inapis communis, Brassica oleracea, Arabidopsis thaliana, Anana comosus, Ananas ananas, Bromelia comosa, Carica papaya, Cannabis sative, lpomoea batatus, Ipo- moea pandurata, Convolvulus batatas, Convolvulus tiliaceus, lpomoea fas-tigiata, lpomoea tiliacea, lpomoea triloba, Convolvulus panduratus, Beta vulgaris, Beta vul-garis var. altissima, Beta vulgaris var.
  • Anacardiaceae such as the genera Pistacia, Mangifera, Anacardium e.g. the species Pistacia vera [pistachios, Pistazie], Mangifer indica [Mango] or Anacardium occi- dentale [Cashew], Asteraceae such as the genera Calendula, Carthamus, Centaurea, Cichorium, Cynara, Helianthus, Lactuca, Locusta, Tagetes, Valeriana e.g.
  • Brassica napus Brassica rapa ssp. [canola, oilseed rape, turnip rape], Sinapis arvensis Brassica juncea, Brassica juncea var. juncea, Brassica juncea var. crispifolia, Brassica juncea var. foliosa, Brassica nigra, Brassica sinapioides, Melanosinapis communis [mustard], Brassica oleracea [fodder beet] or Arabidopsis thaliana; Bromeliaceae such as the genera Anana, Bromelia e.g.
  • Anana comosus Ananas ananas or Bromelia comosa [pineapple]
  • Caricaceae such as the genera Carica e.g. the species Carica papaya [papaya]
  • Cannabaceae such as the genera Cannabis e.g. the species Cannabis sative [hemp]
  • Convolvulaceae such as the genera Ipomea, Convolvulus e.g.
  • Cucurbitaceae such as the genera Cucubita e.g. the species Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita pepo or Cucurbita mo- schata [pumpkin, squash]; Elaeagnaceae such as the genera Elaeagnus e.g. the species Olea europaea [olive]; Ericaceae such as the genera Kalmia e.g.
  • Kalmia lucida the species KaI- mia latifolia, Kalmia angustifolia, Kalmia microphylla, Kalmia polifolia, Kalmia occiden- talis, Cistus chamaerhodendros or Kalmia lucida [American laurel, broad-leafed laurel, calico bush, spoon wood, sheep laurel, alpine laurel, bog laurel, western bog-laurel, swamp-laurel]; Euphorbiaceae such as the genera Manihot, Janipha, Jatropha, Ricinus e.g.
  • Manihot utilissima Janipha manihot,, Jatropha manihot, Manihot aipil, Manihot dulcis, Manihot manihot, Manihot melanobasis, Manihot esculenta [manihot, arrowroot, tapioca, cassava] or Ricinus communis [castor bean, Castor Oil Bush, Castor Oil Plant, Palma Christi, Wonder Tree]; Fabaceae such as the genera Pisum, Al- bizia, Cathormion, Feuillea, Inga, Pithecolobium, Acacia, Mimosa, Medicajo, Glycine, Dolichos, Phaseolus, Soja e.g. the species Pisum sativum, Pisum arvense, Pisum hu- mile [pea], Albizia berteriana, Albizia julibrissin, Albizia lebbeck, Acacia berteriana,
  • Juglans regia the species Juglans regia, Juglans ailanthifolia, Juglans sie-boldiana, Juglans cinerea, WaIHa cinerea, Juglans bixbyi, Juglans califomica, Juglans hind-sii, Juglans intermedia, Juglans jamaicensis, Juglans major, Juglans micro- carpa, Juglans nigra or WaIHa nigra [walnut, black walnut, common walnut, persian walnut, white walnut, butternut, black walnut]; Lauraceae such as the genera Persea, Laurus e.g.
  • Linum usitatissimum Linum humile, Linum austriacum, Linum bienne, Linum angustifolium, Linum catharticum, Linum flavum, Linum grandiflorum, Adeno-linum grandiflorum, Linum lewisii, Linum narbonense, Linum perenne, Linum perenne var. lewisii, Linum pratense or Linum trigynum [flax, linseed]; Lythrarieae such as the genera Punica e.g. the species Punica granatum [pomegranate]; Malvaceae such as the genera Gossypium e.g.
  • Musaceae such as the genera Musa e.g. the species Musa nana, Musa acuminata, Musa paradisiaca, Musa spp. [banana]; Onagraceae such as the genera Camissonia, Oenothera e.g. the species Oeno-thera biennis or Camissonia brevipes [primrose, evening primrose]; Palmae such as the genera Elacis e.g.
  • Papaveraceae such as the genera Pa- paver e.g. the species Papaver orientate, Papaver rhoeas, Papaver dubium [poppy, oriental poppy, corn poppy, field poppy, shirley poppies, field poppy, long-headed poppy, long-pod poppy]; Pedaliaceae such as the genera Sesamum e.g. the species Sesamum indicum [sesame]; Piperaceae such as the genera Piper, Artanthe, Pep- eromia, Steffensia e.g.
  • Hordeum vulgare the species Hordeum vulgare, Hordeum jubatum, Hordeum murinum, Hor- deum secalinum, Hordeum distichon Hordeum aegiceras, Hordeum hexastichon.
  • Hordeum hexastichum Hordeum irregulare, Hordeum sativum, Hordeum secalinum [barley, pearl barley, foxtail barley, wall barley, meadow bar-ley], Secale cereale [rye], Avena sativa, Avena fatua, Avena byzantina, Avena fatua var.
  • Macadamia inter- grifolia Macadamia inter- grifolia [macadamia]
  • Rubiaceae such as the genera Coffea e.g. the species Cofea spp., Coffea arabica, Coffea canephora or Coffea liberica [coffee]
  • Scrophulariaceae such as the genera Verbascum e.g.
  • Verbascum blattaria Verbascum chaixii, Verbascum densiflorum, Verbascum lagurus, Verbascum longifolium, Verbascum lychnitis, Verbascum nigrum, Verbascum olympicum, Verbascum phlomoides, Verbascum phoenicum, Verbascum pulverulentum or Verbascum thapsus
  • mullein white moth mullein, nettle-leaved mullein, dense-flowered mullein, silver mullein, long- leaved mullein, white mullein, dark mullein, greek mullein, orange mullein, purple mullein, hoary mullein, great mullein]
  • Solanaceae such as the genera Capsicum, Nico- tiana, Solarium, Lycopersicon e.g.
  • the cultivated plant is selected from the superfamily Viridiplantae, in particular monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants including fodder or forage legumes, ornamental plants, food crops, trees or shrubs selected from the list comprising Acer spp., Actinidia spp., Abelmoschus spp., Agave sisalana, Agropyron spp., Agrostis stolonifera, Allium spp., Amaranthus spp., Ammophila arenaria, Annona spp., Apium graveolens, Arachis spp, Artocarpus spp., Asparagus officinalis, Avena spp., Averrhoa carambola, Bambusa sp.
  • Elaeis oleifera Eleusine coracana, Eragrostis tef, Erianthus sp., Eriobotrya japonica, Eucalyptus sp., Eugenia uniflora, Fagopyrum spp., Fagus spp., Festuca arundinacea, Ficus carica, Fortunella spp., Fragaria spp., Ginkgo biloba, Glycine spp. (e.g.
  • Glycine max Soja hispida or Soja max
  • Hemerocallis fulva Hibiscus spp.
  • Hordeum spp. Lathyrus spp.
  • Lens culinaris Litchi chinensis
  • Lotus spp. Luff a acutangula
  • Lupinus spp. Luzula sylvatica, Lycopersicon spp.
  • Macrotyloma spp. Malus spp., Malpighia emarginata, Mammea americana, Manilkara zapota, Medicago sativa, Melilotus spp., Mentha spp., Miscanthus sinensis, Momordica spp., Morus nigra, Musa spp., Nicotiana spp., Olea spp., Opuntia spp., Omithopus spp., Oryza spp, Panicum virgatum, Passi- flora edulis, Pastinaca sativa, Pennisetum sp., Persea spp., Petroselinum crispum, Phalaris arundinacea, Phaseolus spp., Phleum pratense, Phoenix spp., Phragmites australis, Physalis spp., Pinus
  • the cultivated plants are plants, which comprise at least one trait.
  • the term "trait” refers to a property, which is present in the plant either by genetic engineering or by conventional breeding techniques. Each trait has to be assessed in relation to its respective control. Examples of traits are: • herbicide tolerance,
  • cultivadas plants may also comprise combinations of the aforementioned traits, e.g. they may be tolerant to the action of herbicides and express bacertial toxins.
  • all cultivated plants may also provide combinations of the aforementioned properties, e.g. they may be tolerant to the action of herbicides and express bacertial toxins.
  • plant refers to a cultivated plant.
  • the term "increased plant health” means an increase, as compared to the respective control, in a trait selected from the group consisting of: yield (e.g. increased biomass and/or seed yield), plant vigor (e. g. improved plant growth and/or early vigour and/or "greening effect", meaning greener leaves, preferably leaves with a higher greenness index), early vigour, greening effect (preservation of green surface of a leaf), quality (e. g.
  • Plant health is defined as a condition of the plant which is determined by several as- pects alone or in combination with each other.
  • One indicator for the condition of the plant is its "yield”.
  • the term "increased plant health” means an increase in yield as compared to the respective control.
  • term “increased plant health” means any combination of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or more of the above mentioned traits.
  • the term "increased plant health" means that the same effect as in the control plant can be achieved in the cultivated plant by reduced application rates and/or reduced application dosages.
  • yield in general means a measurable produce of economic value, typically related to a specified crop, to an area, and to a period of time. Individual plant parts directly contribute to yield based on their number, size and/or weight, or the actual yield is the yield per square meter for a crop and year, which is determined by dividing total production (includes both harvested and appraised production) by planted square meters.
  • yield of a plant may relate to vegetative biomass (root and/or shoot biomass), to reproductive organs, and/or to propagules (such as seeds) of that plant. In one embodiment yield is to be understood as any plant product of economic value that is produced by the plant such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, seeds, wood or even flowers.
  • increased yield of a plant in particular of an agricultural, horticultural, silvicultural and/or ornamental plant means that the yield of a product of the respective plant is increased by a measurable amount over the yield of the same product of the control plant produced under the same conditions.
  • increased yield is characterized, among others, by the following improved properties of the plant and/or its products compared with a control, such as increased weight, increased height, increased biomass such as higher overall fresh weight, higher grain yield, more tillers, larger leaves, increased shoot growth, increased protein content, increased oil content, increased starch content and/or increased pigment content.
  • Another indicator for the condition of the plant is its "plant vigor".
  • "increased plant vigor" of a plant, in particular of an agricultural, horticultural, silvicultural and/or ornamental plant means that the vigor of a plant is increased by a measurable amount over the vigor of the control plant under the same conditions.
  • the plant vigor becomes manifest in at least one aspects selected from the group consisting of improved vitality of the plant, improved plant growth, improved plant development, improved visual appearance, improved plant stand (less plant verse/lodging), better harvestability, improved emergence, enhanced nodulation in particular rhizobial nodulation, bigger size, bigger leaf blade, in- creased plant weight, increased plant height, increased tiller number, increased shoot growth, increased root growth (extensive root system), increased yield when grown on poor soils or unfavorable climate, enhanced photosynthetic activity, enhanced pigment content (for example chlorophyll content), earlier flowering, shorter flowering period, earlier fruiting, earlier and improved germination, earlier grain maturity, improved self- defence mechanisms, improved stress tolerance and resistance of the plants against biotic and abiotic stress factors such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, insects, heat stress, cold stress, drought stress, UV stress and/or salt stress, less non-productive tillers, less dead basal leaves, less input needed (such as fertilizers, water or pest
  • Early vigour refers to active healthy well-balanced growth especially during early stages of plant growth, and may result from increased plant fitness due to, for example, the plants being better adapted to their environment (i.e. optimizing the use of energy resources and partitioning between shoot and root). Plants having early vigour also show increased seedling survival and a better establishment of the crop, which often results in highly uniform fields (with the crop growing in uniform manner, i.e. with the majority of plants reaching the various stages of development at substantially the same time), and often better and higher yield. Therefore, early vigour may be determined by measuring various factors, such as thousand kernel weight, percentage germination, percentage emergence, seedling growth, seedling height, root length, root and shoot biomass and many more.
  • Another indicator for the condition of the plant is the "quality" of a plant and/or its products.
  • “enhanced quality” means that certain crop characteristics such as the content or composition of certain ingredients are increased or improved by a measurable or noticeable amount over the same factor of the control plant produced under the same conditions.
  • the quality of a product of the respective plant becomes manifest in in at least one aspects selected from the group consisting of improved nutrient content, improved protein content, improved content of fatty acids, im- proved metabolite content, improved carotenoid content, improved sugar content, improved amount of essential and/or non-essential amino acids, improved nutrient composition, improved protein composition, improved composition of fatty acids, improved metabolite composition, improved carotenoid composition, improved sugar composition, improved amino acids composition, improved or optimal fruit color, improved tex- ture of fruits, improved leaf color, higher storage capacity and/or higher processability of the harvested products as compared to the control.
  • the quality of a product of the respective plant becomes manifest in in at least one aspects selected from the group consisting of improved nutrient yield, improved protein yield, improved yield of fatty acids, improved metabolite yield, improved carotenoid yield, improved sugar yield and/or improved yield of essential and/or non-essential amino acids of the harvested products as compared to the control.
  • the nutrient yield, protein yield, yield of fatty acids, metabolite yield, carotenoid yield, sugar yield and/or yield of essential and/or non-essential amino acids is calculated as a fuction of seed and/or biomass yield in relation to the respective nutrient, protein, fatty acids, metabolite, carotenoid, sugar and/or essential and/or non-essential amino acids.
  • the increased seed yield manifest itself as one or more of the following: a) an increase in seed biomass (total seed weight) which may be on an individual seed basis and/or per plant and/or per square meter; b) increased number of flowers per plant; c) increased number of (filled) seeds; d) increased seed filling rate (which is expressed as the ratio between the number of filled seeds divided by the total number of seeds); e) increased harvest index, which is expressed as a ratio of the yield of harvestable parts, such as seeds, divided by the total biomass; and f) increased thousand kernel weight (TKW), which is extrapolated from the number of filled seeds counted and their total weight.
  • An increased TKW may result from an increased seed size and/or seed weight, and may also result from an increase in embryo and/or endosperm size.
  • the increase in seed yield is also manifested as an increase in seed size and/or seed volume. Furthermore, an increase in seed yield is also manifest itself as an increase in seed area and/or seed length and/or seed width and/or seed perimeter. In a further embodiment increased yield also results in modified architecture, or may occur because of modified architecture.
  • the beneficial effect of the present invention may manifest itself not in the seed yield per se, but in the seed quality and the quality of the agricultural prod- ucts produced from the plants treated according to the invention.
  • Seed quality may relate to different parameters known in the art, such as enhanced nutrient or fine chemical content, e.g. amounts of vitamins or fatty acids and their composition; colouring or shape of the seed; germination rate or seed vigour; or reduced amounts of toxins, e.g. fungal toxins, and/or of substances hard to digest or indigestible, e.g. phytate, lignin.
  • the "greenness index” as used herein is calculated from digital images of plants. For each pixel belonging to the plant object on the image, the ratio of the green value versus the red value (in the RGB model for encoding colour) is calculated. The greenness index is expressed as the percentage of pixels for which the green-to-red ratio exceeds a given threshold. Under normal growth conditions, under salt stress growth conditions, and under reduced nutrient availability growth conditions, the greenness index of plants is measured in the last imaging before flowering. In contrast, under drought stress growth conditions, the greenness index of plants is measured in the first imaging after drought. Similarly the measurements may be done after exposure to other abiotic stress treatments, e.g. temperature.
  • Biotic stress is caused by living organisms while abiotic stress is caused for example by environmental extremes or conditions unfavourable for an optimal growth of the plant.
  • "enhanced tolerance or resistance to biotic and/or abiotic stress factors” means (1.) that certain negative factors caused by biotic and/or abiotic stress are diminished in a measurable or noticeable amount as compared to control plants exposed to the same conditions, and (2.) that the negative effects are not diminished by a direct action of the composition on the stress factors, for example by its fungicidal or insecticidal action which directly destroys the microorganisms or pests, but rather by a stimulation of the plants' own defensive reactions ("priming") against said stress factors ("induced resistance”) or by the above mentioned synergistic effect.
  • Biotic stress can be caused by living organisms, such as pests (for example insects, arachnides, nematodes), competing plants (for example weeds), microorganisms (such as phythopathogenic fungi and/or bacteria) and/or viruses.
  • Abiotic stress can be caused for example by extremes in temperature such as heat or cold (heat stress, cold stress), strong variations in temperature, temperatures unusual for the specific season, drought (drought stress), extreme wetness, high salinity (salt stress), radiation (for ex- ample by increased UV radiation due to the decreasing ozone layer), increased ozone levels (ozone stress), organic pollution (for example by phythotoxic amounts of pesticides) and inorganic pollution (for example by heavy metal contaminants). Both biotic as well as abiotic stress factors may in addition lead to secondary stresses such as oxidative stress.
  • enhanced tolerance or resistance to biotic of the respective plant becomes manifest in in at least one aspects selected from the group consisting of tolerance or resistance to pests (for example insects, arachnides, nematodes), competing plants (for example weeds), microorganisms (such as phythopatho- genic fungi and/or bacteria) and/or viruses.
  • pests for example insects, arachnides, nematodes
  • competing plants for example weeds
  • microorganisms such as phythopatho- genic fungi and/or bacteria
  • enhanced tolerance or resistance to abiotic of the respective plant becomes manifest in in at least one aspects selected from the group consisting of tolerance or resistance to extremes in temperature such as heat or cold (heat stress, cold stress), strong variations in temperature, temperatures unusual for the specific season, drought (drought stress), extreme wetness, high salinity (salt stress), radiation (for example by increased UV radiation due to the decreasing ozone layer), increased ozone levels (ozone stress), organic pollution (for example by phythotoxic amounts of pesticides) and inorganic pollution (for example by heavy metal contaminants).
  • extremes in temperature such as heat or cold (heat stress, cold stress), strong variations in temperature, temperatures unusual for the specific season, drought (drought stress), extreme wetness, high salinity (salt stress), radiation (for example by increased UV radiation due to the decreasing ozone layer), increased ozone levels (ozone stress), organic pollution (for example by phythotoxic amounts of pesticides) and inorganic pollution (for example by heavy metal contaminants).
  • extremes in temperature such
  • plant yield is increased by increasing the environmental stress tolerance(s) of a plant, in particular the tolerance to abiotic stress.
  • the term "increased tolerance to stress” can be defined as survival of plants, and/or higher yield production, under stress conditions as compared to a control plant: For example, the plant of the invention is better adapted to the stress conditions.
  • stress condition a condition where biotic stress may be divided into biotic and abiotic (environmental) stresses. Unfavourable nutrient conditions are sometimes also referred to as “environmental stress”. In one embodiment the present invention does also contemplate solutions for this kind of envi- ronmental stress, e.g. referring to increased nutrient use efficiency.
  • the terms “enhanced tolerance to stress”, “enhanced resistance to environmental stress”, “enhanced tolerance to environmental stress”, “improved adaptation to environmental stress” and other variations and expressions similar in its meaning are used interchangeably and refer, without limitation, to an improvement in tolerance to one or more environmental stress(es) as described herein and as compared to a corresponding control plant.
  • abiotic stress tolerance(s) refers for example low temperature tolerance, drought tolerance or improved water use efficiency (WUE), heat tolerance, salt stress tolerance and others.
  • Stress tolerance in plants like low temperature, drought, heat and salt stress tolerance can have a common theme important for plant growth, namely the availability of water. Plants are typically exposed during their life cycle to conditions of reduced environmental water content. The protection strategies are similar to those of chilling tolerance.
  • said yield-related trait relates to an increased water use efficiency of the plant of the invention and/ or an increased tolerance to drought conditions of the plant of the invention.
  • Water use efficiency is a parameter often correlated with drought tolerance. An increase in biomass at low water availability may be due to relatively improved efficiency of growth or reduced water consumption.
  • a decrease in water use, without a change in growth would have particular merit in an irrigated agricultural system where the water input costs were high.
  • An increase in growth without a corresponding jump in water use would have applicability to all agricultural systems.
  • an increase in growth, even if it came at the expense of an increase in water use also increases yield.
  • an increased plant yield is mediated by increasing the "nutrient use efficiency of a plant", e.g. by improving the nutrient use efficiency of nutrients including, but not limited to, phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen.
  • An increased nutrient use efficiency is in one embodiment an enhanced nitrogen uptake, assimilation, accumulation or utilization. These complex processes are associ- ated with absorption, translocation, assimilation, and redistribution of nitrogen in the plant.
  • the above mentioned effects of the method according to the invention i.e. enhanced health of the plant, are also present when the plant is not under biotic stress for example when the plant is not under fungal- or pest pressure. It is evident that a plant suffering from fungal or insecticidal attack produces a smaller biomass and a smaller crop yield as compared to a plant which has been subjected to curative or preventive treatment against the pathogenic fungus or pest and which can grow without the damage caused by the biotic stress factor. However, the method according to the invention leads to an enhanced plant health even in the absence of any biotic stress and in particular of any phytopathogenic fungi or pest.
  • plant encompasses whole plants and progeny of the plants and plant parts, including seeds, shoots, stems, leaves, roots (including tubers), flow- ers, and tissues and organs.
  • Tolerance to herbicides can be obtained by creating insensitivity at the site of action of the herbicide by expression of a target enzyme which is resistant to herbicide; rapid metabolism (conjugation or degradation) of the herbicide by expression of enzymes which inactivate herbicide; or poor uptake and translocation of the herbicide.
  • Examples are the expression of enzymes which are tolerant to the herbicide in comparison to wild type enzymes, such as the expression of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate syn- thase (EPSPS), which is tolerant to glyphosate (see e.g. Heck et.al, Crop Sci.
  • EPSPS 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate syn- thase
  • Gene constructs can be obtained, for example, from micro-organism or plants, which are tolerant to said herbicides, such as the Agrobacterium strain CP4 EPSPS which is resistant to glyphosate; Streptomyces bacteria which are resistance to glufosinate; Arabidopsis, Daucus carota, Pseudomonoas spp. or Zea grass with chimeric gene sequences coding for HDDP (see e.g. WO 1996/38567, WO 2004/55191 ); Arabidopsis thaliana which is resistant to protox inhibitors (see e.g. US 2002/0073443).
  • said herbicides such as the Agrobacterium strain CP4 EPSPS which is resistant to glyphosate; Streptomyces bacteria which are resistance to glufosinate; Arabidopsis, Daucus carota, Pseudomonoas spp. or Zea grass with chimeric gene sequences coding for
  • the herbicide tolerant plant can be selected from cereals such as wheat, barley, rye, oat; canola, sorghum, soybean, rice, oil seed rape, sugar beet, sugarcane, grapes, lentils, sunflowers, alfalfa, pome fruits; stone fruits; peanuts; coffee; tea; straw- berries; turf; vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucurbits and lettuce, more preferably, the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape in particular canola, tomatoes, potatoes, sugarcane, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
  • cereals such as wheat, barley, rye, oat
  • canola, sorghum soybean
  • rice oil seed rape
  • sugar beet sugarcane
  • grapes lentils
  • sunflowers alfalfa
  • pome fruits stone fruits
  • stone fruits peanuts
  • coffee
  • Examples of commercial available transgenic plants with tolerance to herbicides are the corn varieties “Roundup Ready Corn”, “Roundup Ready 2" (Monsanto), “Agrisure GT”, “Agrisure GT/CB/LL”, “Agrisure GT/RW”, ,,Agrisure 3000GT” (Syngenta), “YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2" and “YieldGard VT Triple” (Monsanto) with tolerance to glyphosate; the corn varieties “Liberty Link” (Bayer), “Herculex I”, “Herculex RW”, “Her- culex Xtra”(Dow, Pioneer), “Agrisure GT/CB/LL” and “Agrisure CB/LL/RW” (Syngenta) with tolerance to glufosinate; the soybean varieties “Roundup Ready Soybean” (Monsanto) and “Optimum GAT” (DuPont, Pioneer) with tolerance to glyphosate; the cotton varieties
  • transgenic plants with herbicide tolerance are commonly known, for instance alfalfa, apple, eucalyptus, flax, grape, lentils, oil seed rape, peas, potato, rice, sugar beet, sunflower, tobacco, tomatom turf grass and wheat with tolerance to glyphosate (see e.g. US 5188642, US 4940835, US 5633435, US 5804425, US 5627061); beans, soybean, cotton, peas, potato, sunflower, tomato, tobacco, corn, sorghum and sugarcane with tolerance to dicamba (see e.g. US 7105724 and US 5670454); pepper, apple, tomato, millet, sunflower, tobacco, potato, corn, cu- cumber, wheat and sorghum with tolerance to 2,4-D (see e.g. US 6153401 , US
  • Plants which are capable of synthesising one or more selectively acting bacterial toxins, comprise for example at least one toxin from toxin-producing bacteria, especially those of the genus Bacillus, in particular plants capable of synthesising one or more insecticidal proteins from Bacillus cereus or Bacillus popliae; or insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis, such as delta. -endotoxins, e.g. CrylA(b), CrylA(c), CrylF, CrylF(a2), CryllA(b), CrylllA, CrylllB(bi ) or Cry ⁇ c, or vegetative insecticidal proteins (VIP), e.g.
  • VIP vegetative insecticidal proteins
  • VIP1 , VIP2, VIP3 or VIP3A insecticidal proteins of bacteria colonising nematodes, for example Photorhabdus spp. or Xenorhabdus spp., such as Photorhab- dus luminescens, Xenorhabdus nematophilus; toxins produced by animals, such as scorpion toxins, arachnid toxins, wasp toxins and other insect-specific neurotoxins; toxins produced by fungi, such as Streptomycetes toxins, plant lectins, such as pea lectins, barley lectins or snowdrop lectins; agglutinins; proteinase inhibitors, such as trypsine inhibitors, serine protease inhibitors, patatin, cystatin, papain inhibitors; ribo- some-inactivating proteins (RIP), such as ricin, maize-RIP, abrin, luffin, saporin or bryodin; steroid metabolism enzymes, such
  • a plant is capable of producing a toxin, lectin or inhibitor if it contains at least one cell comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding said toxin, lectin, inhibitor or inhibitor producing enzyme, and said nucleic acid sequence is transcribed and translated and if appropriate the resulting protein processed and/or secreted in a constitutive manner or subject to developmental, inducible or tissue-specific regulation.
  • -endotoxins for example CrylA(b), CrylA(c), CrylF, CrylF(a2), CryllA(b), CrylllA, CrylllB(bi ) or Cry ⁇ c, or vegetative insecticidal proteins (VIP), for example VIP1 , VIP2, VIP3 or VIP3A, expressly also hybrid toxins, truncated toxins and modified toxins.
  • Hybrid toxins are produced recombinantly by a new combination of different domains of those proteins (see, for example, WO 02/15701).
  • a truncated toxin is a truncated CrylA(b), which is expressed in the Bt1 1 maize from Syngenta Seed SAS, as described below.
  • modified toxins one or more amino acids of the naturally occurring toxin are replaced.
  • non-naturally present protease recognition sequences are inserted into the toxin, such as, for example, in the case of CrylllA055, a cathepsin-D-recognition sequence is inserted into a CrylllA toxin (see WO 2003/018810).
  • Examples of such toxins or transgenic plants capable of synthesising such toxins are disclosed, for example, in EP-A-O 374 753, WO 93/07278, WO 95/34656, EP-A-O 427 529, EP-A-451 878 and WO 2003/052073.
  • Cryl-type deoxyribonucleic acids and their preparation are known, for example, from WO 95/34656, EP-A-O 367 474, EP-A-O 401 979 and WO 1990/13651.
  • the toxin contained in the transgenic plants imparts to the plants tolerance to harmful insects.
  • insects can occur in any taxonomic group of insects, but are especially commonly found in the beetles (Coleoptera), two-winged insects (Diptera) and butterflies (Lepidoptera).
  • the plant capable of expression of bacterial toxins is selected from cereals such as wheat, barley, rye, oat; canola, cotton, eggplant, lettuce, sorghum, soybean, rice, oil seed rape, sugar beet, sugarcane, grapes, lentils, sunflowers, alfalfa, pome fruits; stone fruits; peanuts; coffee; tea; strawberries; turf; vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucurbits and lettuce, more preferably, the plant is selected from cotton, soybean, maize (corn), rice, tomatoes, potatoes, oilseed rape and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from cotton, soybean, maize, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
  • cereals such as wheat, barley, rye, oat
  • canola cotton, eggplant, lettuce, sorghum, soybean, rice, oil seed rape, sugar beet, sugarcane,
  • Examples of commercial available transgenic plants capable of expression of bacterial toxins are the corn varieties “YieldGard corn rootworm” (Monsanto), “YieldGard VT” (Monsanto), “Herculex RW” (Dow, Pioneer), “Herculex Rootworm” (Dow, Pioneer) and “Agrisure CRW” (Syngenta) with resistance against corn rootworm; the corn varieties “YieldGard corn borer” (Monsanto), ,,YieldGard VT Pro” (Monsanto), “Agrisure CB/LL” (Syngenta), “Agrisure 3000GT” (Syngenta), "Hercules I", “Hercules II” (Dow, Pioneer), “KnockOut” (Novartis), ,,NatureGard” (Mycogen) and ,,Starl_ink” (Aventis) with resis- tance against corn borer, the corn varieties ,,Herculex I" (D
  • transgenic plants with insect resistance are commonly known, such as yellow stemborer resistant rice (see e.g. Molecular Breeding, Volume 18, 2006, Number 1), lepidopteran resistant lettuce (see e.g. US 5349124 ), resistant soybean (see e.g. US 7432421 ) and rice with resistance against Lepidopterans, such as rice stemborer, rice skipper, rice cutworm, rice caseworm, rice leaffolder and rice armyworm (see e.g. WO 2001021821 ).
  • the methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
  • plants which are capable of synthesising antipathogenic substances are selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, tomatoes, potato, banana, papaya, tobacco, grape, plum and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, tomatoes, potato, banana, papaya, oil seed rape, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
  • Plants which are capable of synthesising antipathogenic substances having a selective action are for example plants expressing the so-called "pathogenesis-related proteins” (PRPs, see e.g. EP-A-O 392 225) or so-called “antifungal proteins” (AFPs, see e.g. US 6864068).
  • PRPs pathogenesis-related proteins
  • AFPs antifungal proteins
  • a wide range of antifungal proteins with activity against plant pathogenic fungi have been isolated from certain plant species and are common knowledge. Examples of such antipathogenic substances and transgenic plants capable of synthesis- ing such antipathogenic substances are known, for example, from EP-A-O 392 225, WO 93/05153, WO 95/33818, and EP-A-O 353 191.
  • Transgenic plants which are resistant against fungal, viral and bacterial pathogens are produced by introducing plant resistance genes.
  • Numerous resistant genes have been identified, isolated and were used to improve plant resistant, such as the N gene which was introduced into tobacco lines that are susceptible to Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) in order to produce TMV- resistant tobacco plants (see e.g. US 5571706), the Prf gene, which was introduced into plants to obtain enhanced pathogen resistance (see e.g. WO 199802545) and the Rps2 gene from Arabidopsis thaliana, which was used to create resistance to bacterial pathogens including Pseudomonas syringae (see e.g. WO 199528423).
  • TMV Tobacco Mosaic Virus
  • Plants exhibiting systemic acquired resistance response were obtained by introducing a nucleic acid molecule encoding the TIR domain of the N gene (see e.g. US 6630618).
  • Further examples of known resistance genes are the Xa21 gene, which has been introduced into a number of rice cultivars (see e.g. US 5952485, US 5977434, WO 1999/09151 , WO 1996/22375), the Rcg1 gene for colletotrichum resistance (see e.g. US 2006/225152), the prp1 gene (see e.g. US 5859332, WO 2008/017706), the ppv-cp gene to introduce resistance against plum pox virus (see e.g.
  • the P1 gene see e.g. US5968828, genes such as BIbI , Blb2, Blb3 and RB2 to introduce resistance against Phytophthora infestans in potato (see e.g. US 7148397), the LRPKmI gene (see e.g. WO1999064600), the P1 gene for potato virus Y resistance (see e.g. US 5968828), the HA5-1 gene (see e.g.
  • the PIP gene to indroduce a broad resistant to viruses such as potato virus X (PVX), potato virus Y (PVY), potato leafroll virus (PLRV) (see e.g. EP 0707069) and genes such as Arabidopsis NH 6, ScaM4 and ScaM5 genes to obtain fungal resistance (see e.g. US 6706952 and EP 1018553).
  • viruses such as potato virus X (PVX), potato virus Y (PVY), potato leafroll virus (PLRV)
  • PLRV potato leafroll virus
  • genes such as Arabidopsis NH 6, ScaM4 and ScaM5 genes to obtain fungal resistance see e.g. US 6706952 and EP 1018553.
  • the methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
  • Antipathogenic substances which can be expressed by such transgenic plants include, for example, ion channel blockers, such as blockers for sodium and calcium channels, for example the viral KP1 , KP4 or KP6 toxins; stilbene synthases; bibenzyl synthases; chitinases; glucanases; the so-called "pathogenesis-related proteins" (PRPs; see e.g. EP-A-O 392 225); antipathogenic substances produced by microorganisms, for example peptide antibiotics or heterocyclic antibiotics (see e.g. WO 1995/33818) or protein or polypeptide factors involved in plant pathogen defense (so-called "plant disease resistance genes", as described in WO 2003/000906).
  • ion channel blockers such as blockers for sodium and calcium channels
  • the viral KP1 , KP4 or KP6 toxins stilbene synthases; bibenzyl synthases; chitinases; glucanases; the so-called
  • Antipathogenic substances produced by the plants are able to protect the plants against a variety of pathogens, such as fungi, viruses and bacteria.
  • Useful plants of elevated interest in connection with present invention are cereals, such as wheat, barley, rye and oat; soybean; maize; rice; alfalfa, cotton, sugar beet, sugarcane, tobacco , potato, banana, oil seed rape; pome fruits; stone fruits; peanuts; coffee; tea; strawberries; turf; vines and vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucurbits, papaya, melon, lenses and lettuce, more preferably selected from soybean, maize (corn), alfalfa, cotton, potato, banana, papaya, rice, tomatoes and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, potato, tomato, oilseed rape, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
  • Transgenic plants with resistance against fungal pathogens are, for examples, soybeans with resistance against Asian soybean rust (see e.g. WO 2008/017706); plants such as alfalfa, corn, cotton, sugar beet, oileed, rape, tomato, soybean, wheat, potato and tobacco with resistance against Phytophtora infestans (see e.g. US5859332, US 7148397, EP 1334979); corn with resistance against leaf blights, ear rots and stalk rots (such as anthracnose leaf bligh, anthracnose stalk rot, diplodia ear rot, Fusarium verti- cilioides, Gibberella zeae and top dieback, see e.g.
  • plants such as corn, soybean, cereals (in particular wheat, rye, barley, oats, rye, rice), tobacco, sorghum, sugarcane and potatoes with broad fungal resistance (see e.g. US 5689046, US 6706952, EP 1018553 and US 6020129).
  • Transgenic plants with resistance against bacterial pathogens are, for examples, rice with resistance against XyIeIIa fas- tidiosa (see e.g. US 6232528); plants, such as rice, cotton, soybean, potato, sorghum, corn, wheat, balrey, sugarcane, tomato and pepper, with resistance against bacterial blight (see e.g. WO 2006/42145, US 5952485, US 5977434, WO 1999/09151 , WO 1996/22375); tomato with resistance against Pseudomonas syringae (see e.g. Can. J. Plant Path., 1983, 5: 251-255).
  • Transgenic plants with resistance against viral pathogens are, for examples, stone fruits, such as plum, almond, apricot, cherry, peach, nectarine, with resistance against plum pox virus (PPV, see e.g. US PP15,154Ps, EP 0626449); potatoes with resistance against potato virus Y (see e.g. US 5968828); plants such as potato, tomato, cucumber and leguminosaes which are resistant against tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV, see e.g. EP 0626449, US 5973135); corn with resistance against maize streak virus (see e.g. US 6040496); papaya with resistance against papaya ring spot virus (PRSV, see e.g.
  • PRSV papaya with resistance against papaya ring spot virus
  • cucurbitaceae such as cucumber, melon, watermelon and pumpkin, and solanaceae, such as potato, tobacco, tomato, eggplant, paprika and pepper, with resistance against cucumber mosaic virus (CMV, see e.g. US 6849780); cucurbitaceae, such as cucumber, melon, watermelon and pumkin, with resistance against watermelon mosaic virus and zucchini yellow mosaic virus (see e.g. US 6015942); potatoes with resistance against potato leafroll virus (PLRV, see e.g. US 5576202); potatoes with a broad resistance to viruses, such as potato virus X (PVX), potato virus Y (PVY), potato leafroll virus (PLRV) (see e.g. EP 0707069).
  • CMV cucumber mosaic virus
  • PLAV zucchini yellow mosaic virus
  • PVX potato virus X
  • PVY potato virus Y
  • PLRV potato leafroll virus
  • Transgenic plants with resistance against nematodes and which may be used in the methods of the present invention are, for examples, soybean plants with resistance to soybean cyst nematodes.
  • U.S. Patent Nos. 5,589,622 and 5,824,876 are directed to the identification of plant genes expressed specifically in or adjacent to the feeding site of the plant after attachment by the nematode.
  • transgenic plants with reduced feeding structures for parasitic nematodes e.g. plants resistant to herbicides except of those parts or those cells that are nematode feeding sites and treating such plant with a herbicide to prevent, reduce or limit nematode feeding by damaging or destroying feeding sites (e.g. US 5866777).
  • RNAi to target essential nematode genes has been proposed, for example, in PCT Publication WO 2001/96584, WO 2001/17654, US 2004/0098761 , US 2005/0091713, US 2005/0188438, US 2006/0037101 , US 2006/0080749, US 2007/0199100, and US 2007/0250947.
  • Transgenic nematode resistant plants have been disclosed, for example in the PCT publications WO 2008/095886 and WO 2008/095889.
  • Plants wich are resistant to antibiotics, such as kanamycin, neomycin and ampicillin.
  • the naturally occurring bacterial nptll gene expresses the enzyme that blocks the effects of the antibiotics kanamycin and neomycin.
  • the ampicillin resistance gene ampR also known as blaTEMI
  • ampR is derived from the bacterium Salmonella paratyphi and is used as a marker gene in the transformation of micro-organisms and plants. It is responsible for the synthesis of the enzyme beta-lactamase, which neutralises antibiotics in the penicillin group, including ampicillin.
  • Transgenic plants with resistance against antibiotics are, for examples potato, tomato, flax, canola, oilseed rape and corn (see e.g.
  • Plant Cell Reports 20, 2001 , 610-615. Trends in Plant Science, 1 1 , 2006, 317- 319. Plant Molecular Biology, 37, 1998, 287-296. MoI Gen Genet., 257, 1998, 606-13.). Plant Cell Reports, 6, 1987, 333-336. Federal Register (USA), Vol.60, No.1 13, 1995, page 31 139. Federal Register (USA), Vol.67, No.226, 2002, page 70392. Federal Register (USA), Vol.63, No.88, 1998, page 25194. Federal Register (USA), Vol.60, No.141 , 1995, page 37870. Canadian Food Inspection Agency, FD/OFB-095-264-A, October 1999, FD/OFB-099-127-A, October 1999.
  • the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape, potato, sugarcane, alfalfa, toma- toes and cereals, such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape, tomato, potato, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
  • Plants which are tolerant to stress conditions are plants, which show increased tolerance to abiotic stress conditions such as drought, high salinity, high light intensities, high UV irradiation, chemical pollution (such as high heavy metal concentration), low or high temperatures, limitied supply of nutrients (i.e. nitrogen, phosphorous) and population stress.
  • abiotic stress conditions such as drought, high salinity, high light intensities, high UV irradiation, chemical pollution (such as high heavy metal concentration), low or high temperatures, limitied supply of nutrients (i.e. nitrogen, phosphorous) and population stress.
  • transgenic plants with resistance to stress conditions are selected from rice, corn, soybean, sugarcane, alfalfa, wheat, tomato, potato, barley, rapeseed, beans, oats, sorghum and cotton with tolerance to drought (see e.g.
  • WO 2005/048693, WO 2008/002480 and WO 2007/030001 corn, soybean, wheat, cotton, rice, rapeseed and alfalfa with tolerance to low temperatures (see e.g. US 4731499 and WO 2007/112122); rice, cotton, potato, soybean, wheat, barley, rye, sorghum, al- falfa, grape, tomato, sunflower and tobacco with tolerance to high salinity (see e.g. US 7256326, US 7034139, WO 2001/030990).
  • the methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
  • the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, sugarcane, alfalfa, sugar beet, potato, oilseed rape, tomatoes and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape, tomato, potato, sugarcane, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
  • Altered maturation properties are for example delayed ripening, delayed softening and early maturity.
  • transgenic plants with modified maturation properties are, selected from tomato, melon, raspberry, strawberry, muskmelon, pepper and papaya with delayed ripening (see e.g. US 5767376, US 7084321 , US 6107548, US 5981831 , WO 1995035387, US 5952546, US 5512466, WO 1997001952, WO 1992/008798, Plant Cell. 1989, 53-63. Plant Molecular Biology, 50, 2002).
  • the methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
  • the plant is selected from fruits, such as tomato, vine, melon, papaya, banana, pepper, raspberry and strawberry; stone fruits, such as cherry, apricot and peach; pome fruits, such as apple and pear; and citrus fruits, such as citron, lime, orange, pomelo, grapefruit, and manda- rin ⁇ more preferably from tomato, vine, apple, banana, orange and strawberry, most preferably tomatoes.
  • fruits such as tomato, vine, melon, papaya, banana, pepper, raspberry and strawberry
  • stone fruits such as cherry, apricot and peach
  • pome fruits such as apple and pear
  • citrus fruits such as citron, lime, orange, pomelo, grapefruit, and manda- rin ⁇ more preferably from tomato, vine, apple, banana, orange and strawberry, most preferably tomatoes.
  • Content modification is synthesis of modified chemical compounds (if compared to the corresponding control plant) or synthesis of enhanced amounts of chemical (if compounds compared to the corresponding control plant) and corresponds to an increased or reduced amount of vitamins, amino acids, proteins and starch, different oils and a reduced amount of nicotine.
  • Commercial examples are the soybean varieties “Vistive II” and “Visitive III” with low- linolenic/medium oleic content; the corn variety “Mavera high-value corn” with increased lysine content; and the soybean variety “Mavera high value soybean” with yielding 5% more protein compared to conventional varieties when processed into soybean meal.
  • Further transgenic plants with altered content are, for example, potato and corn with modified amylopectin content (see e.g.
  • WO 05077117 potato, corn and rice with modified starch content (see e.g. WO 1997044471 and US 7317146); tomato, corn, grape, alfalfa, apple, beans and peas with modified flavonoid content (see e.g. WO 2000/04175); corn, rice, sorghum, cotton, soybeans with altered content of phenolic compounds (see e.g. US 20080235829).
  • the methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
  • the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, sugarcane, potato, tomato, oilseed rape, flax and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably soybean, maize (corn), rice, oilseed rape, potato, tomato, cotton, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
  • soybean, maize (corn) rice, cotton, sugarcane, potato, tomato, oilseed rape, flax and cereals
  • wheat, barley, rye and oat most preferably soybean, maize (corn), rice, oilseed rape, potato, tomato, cotton, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
  • transgenic plants with enhanced nitrogen assimilatory and utilization capacities are selected from for example, canola, corn, wheat, sunflower, rice, tobacco, soybean, cotton, alfalfa, tomato, wheat, potato, sugar beet, sugar cane and rapeseed (see e.g. WO 1995/00991 1 , WO 1997/030163, US 6084153, US 5955651 and US 6864405).
  • Plants with improved phosphorous uptake are, for example, tomato and po- tato (see e.g. US 7417181).
  • the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, sugarcane, alfalfa, potato, oilseed rape and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape, tomato, potato, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley.
  • Transgenic plants with male steriliy are preferably selected from canola, corn, tomato, rice, Indian mustard, wheat, soybean and sunflower (see e.g. US 6720481 , US 6281348, US 5659124, US 6399856, US 7345222, US 7230168, US 6072102, EP1 135982, WO 2001/092544 and WO 1996/040949).
  • the methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
  • the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape, tomato, potato, vine, ap- pie, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley.
  • Table II Further examples of deregulated or commercially available transgenic plants with modified genetic material being male sterile are
  • Plants, which produce higher quality fiber are e.g. transgenic cotton plants.
  • the such improved quality of the fiber is related to improved micronaire of the fiber, increased strength, improved staple length, improved length unifomity and color of the fibers (see e.g. WO 1996/26639, US 7329802, US 6472588 and WO 2001/17333).
  • the methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
  • cultiva plants may comprise one or more traits, e.g. selected from the group consisting of herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, fungal resistance, viral resistance, bacterial resistance, stress tolerance, maturation alteration, content modification, modified nutrient uptake and male sterility (see e.g. WO 2005033319 and US 6376754).
  • traits e.g. selected from the group consisting of herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, fungal resistance, viral resistance, bacterial resistance, stress tolerance, maturation alteration, content modification, modified nutrient uptake and male sterility (see e.g. WO 2005033319 and US 6376754).
  • Examples of commercial available transgenic plants with two combined properties are the corn varieties “YieldGard Roundup Ready” and YieldGard Roundup Ready 2" (Monsanto) with glyphosate tolerance and resistance to corn borer; the corn variety “Agrisure CB/LL” (Syntenta) with glufosinate tolerance and corn borer resistance; the corn variety “Yield Gard VT Rootworm/RR2” with glyphosate tolerance and corn root- worm resistance; the corn variety “Yield Gard VT Triple” with glyphosate tolerance and resistance against corn rootworm and corn borer; the corn variety "Herculex I” with glufosinate tolerance and lepidopteran resistance (Cry1 F), i.e.
  • Examples of commercial available transgenic plants with three traits are the corn vari- ety "Herculex I / Roundup Ready 2" with glyphosate tolerance, gluphosinate tolerance and lepidopteran resistance (Cry1 F), i.e. against western bean cutworm, corn borer, black cutworm and fall armyworm; the corn variety ⁇ ieldGard Plus / Roundup Ready 2" (Monsanto) with glyphosate tolerance, corn rootworm resistance and corn borer resistance; the corn variety "Agrisure GT/CB/LL” (Syngenta) with tolerance to glyphosate tolerance, tolerance to gluphosinate and corn borer resistance; the corn variety "Herculex Xtra” (Dow, Pioneer) with glufosinate tolerance and lepidopteran resistance (Cry1 F + Cry34/35Ab1 ), i.e.
  • An example of a commercial available transgenic plant with four traits is ,,Hercules Quad-Stack" with glyphosate tolerance, glufosinate tolerance, corn borer resistance and corn rootworm resistance.
  • the cultivated plants are plants, which comprise at least one trait selected from herbicide tolerance, insect resistance by expression of bacertial toxins, fungal resistance or viral resistance or bacterial resistance by expression of antipatho- genie substances stress tolerance, content modification of chemicals present in the cultivated plant compared to the corresponding control plant.
  • the cultivated plants are plants, which are tolerant to the action of herbicides and plants, which express bacterial toxins, which provides resistance against animal pests (such as insects or arachnids or nematodes), wherein the bacterial toxin is preferably a toxin from Bacillus thuriginensis.
  • the plant is preferably selected from cotton, rice, maize, wheat, barley, rye, oat, soybean, potato, vine, apple, pear, citron and orange.
  • the cultivated plant is selected from the group of plants as mentioned in the paragraphs and tables of this disclosure, preferably as mentioned above.
  • the cultivated plants are plants, which comprise at least one trait selected from herbicide tolerance, insect resistance for example by expression of one or more bacterial toxins, fungal resistance or viral resistance or bacterial resistance by expression of one or more antipathogenic substances, stress tolerance, nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, content modification of chemicals present in the cultivated plant compared to the corresponding control plant.
  • the cultivated plants are plants, which comprise at least one trait selected from herbicide tolerance, insect resistance by expression of one or more bacterial toxins, fungal resistance or viral resistance or bacterial resistance by expression of one or more antipathogenic substances, stress tolerance, content modification of one or more chemicals present in the cultivated plant compared to the corresponding control plant.
  • the cultivated plants are plants, which are tolerant to the action of herbicides and plants, which express one or more bacterial toxins, which provides resistance against one or more animal pests (such as insects or arachnids or nematodes), wherein the bacterial toxin is preferably a toxin from Bacillus thuriginensis.
  • the cultivated plant is preferably selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, sugarcane, alfalfa, potato, oilseed rape, tomatoes and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), cotton, rice and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
  • the cultivated plants are plants, which are given in table A.
  • Sources AgBios database and GMO-compass database (AG BIOS, P.O. Box 475, 106 St. John St. Merrickville, Ontario KOG1 NO, Canada, access: http://www.agbios.com/dbase.php, also see BioTechniques, Volume 35, No. 3, Sept. 2008, p. 213, and http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/gmo/db/).
  • the cultivated plants are plants comprising one or more genes as given in Table B.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is rendered tolerant to herbicides, more preferably to herbicides such as glutamine synthetase inhibitors, 5-enol-pyrovyl-shikimate-3- phosphate-synthase inhibitors, acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors, protoporphy- rinogen oxidase (PPO) inhibitors, auxine type herbicides, most preferably to herbicides such as glyphosate, glufosinate, imazapyr, imazapic, imazamox, imazethapyr, ima- zaquin, imazamethabenz methyl, dicamba and 2,
  • a GABA
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating culti- vated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1.
  • a GABA selected from selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethi- prole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 1.
  • plant propagation materials preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethi- prole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 1.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 1.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • Table 1 Table 1
  • a * refers to US 4761373, US 5304732, US 5331 107, US 5718079, US 621 1438, US
  • C * refers to imidazolinone-herbicide resistant rice plants with specific mutation of the acetohydroxyacid synthase gene: S653N ( see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), S654K ( see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), A122T (see e.g. WO 2004/106529) S653(At)N, S654(At)K,
  • D * refers to WO 2004/106529, WO 2004/16073, WO 2003/14357, WO 2003/13225 and
  • E * refers to US 5188642, US 4940835, US 5633435, US 5804425 and US 5627061.
  • F * refers to US 5646024 and US 5561236.
  • G * refers to US 6333449, US 693311 1 and US 6468747.
  • H * refers to US 6153401 , US 6100446, WO 2005/107437, US 5670454 and US
  • K * refers to HPPD inhibitor herbicides, such as isoxazoles (e.g. isoxaflutole), diketoni- triles, trikeones (e.g. sulcotrione and mesotrione), pyrazolinates.
  • L * refers to protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) inhibiting herbicides.
  • M * refers to US 2002/0073443, US 20080052798, Pest Management Science, 61 ,
  • N * refers to the herbicide tolerant soybean plants presented under the name of CuI- tivance on the XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Sementes, 31st Augusta to 3 rd September
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethi- prole and fipronil,.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corre- sponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-11 , T2-13, T2-15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, T2-19 and T2-23 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-1 1 , T2-13, T2-15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, 12- 19 and T2-23 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-11 , T2-13, T2-15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, 12- 19 and T2-23 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-1 1 , T2-13, T2-15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, T2-19 and T2-23 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-1 1 , T2-13, 12- 15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, T2-19 and T2-23 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-1 1 , T2-13, 12- 15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, T2-19 and T2-23 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * refers to US 4761373, US 5304732, US 5331 107, US 5718079, US 621 1438, US
  • B * refers to Tan et. al, Pest Manag. Sci 61 , 246-257 (2005).
  • C * refers to imidazolinone-herbicide resistant rice plants with specific mutation of the acetohydroxyacid synthase gene: S653N ( see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), S654K ( see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), A122T (see e.g. WO 04/106529) S653(At)N, S654(At)K,
  • D * refers to WO 04/106529, WO 04/16073, WO 03/14357, WO 03/13225 and WO
  • E * refers to US 5188642, US 4940835, US 5633435, US 5804425 and US 5627061.
  • F * refers to US 5646024 and US 5561236.
  • G * refers to US 6333449, US 693311 1 and US 6468747.
  • H * refers to US 6153401 , US 6100446, WO 2005/107437 and US 5608147.
  • N * refers to the herbicide tolerant soybean plants presented under the name of CuI- tivance on the XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Sementes, 31 st Augusta to 3 rd September
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which express at least one insecticidal toxin, preferably a toxin from Bacillus speicies, more preferably from Bacillus thuringiensis.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA as defined above, preferably with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is se- lected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3-10, T3-11 , T3-12, T3-13, T3- 14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3-10, T3-1 1 , T3-12, T3-13, T3-14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3-10, T3-1 1 , T3-12, T3-13, T3-14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3-10, T3- 1 1 , T3-12, T3-13, T3-14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3- 10, T3-11 , T3-12, T3-13, T3-14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3- 10, T3-11 , T3-12, T3-13, T3-14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * refers to ,,Zhuxian B",WO2001021821 , Molecular Breeding, Volume 18, Number 1 / August 2006.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which shows increased resistance against fungal, viral and bacterial diseases, more preferably a plant, which expresses antipathogenic substances, such as antifungal proteins, or which has systemic acquired resistance properties.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethi- prole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 4.
  • plant propagation materials preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethi- prole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 4.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 4.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * refers to US 5689046 and US 6020129.
  • B * refers to US 6706952 and EP 1018553.
  • C * refers to US 6630618.
  • D * refers to WO 1995/005731 and US 5648599.
  • E * refers to the potato plant variety submitted for variety registration with the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), 3, boulevard Marechal Foch, BP 10121 , FR - 49101 Angers Cedex 02, France and having the CPVO file number 20082800
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is listed in table 5.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is se- lected from T5-1 , T5-3, T5-4, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10, T5-12 and T5-13 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T5-1 , T5-3, T5-4, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10.T5-12 and T5-13 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T5-2, T5-5, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10, T5-11 , T5-12 and T5-13 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T5-1 , T5-3, T5-4, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10, T5-12 and T5- 13 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T5-1 , T5-3, T5-4, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10, T5-12 and T5-13 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T5-1 , T5-3, T5-4, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10, T5-12 and T5-13 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * refers to US 5689046 and US 6020129.
  • B * refers to US 6706952 and EP 1018553.
  • C * refers to US 6630618.
  • D * refers to WO 2006/42145, US 5952485, US 5977434, WO 1999/09151 and WO 1996/22375.
  • E * refers to the potato plant variety submitted for variety registration with the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), 3, boulevard Marechal Foch, BP 10121 , FR - 49101 Angers Cedex 02, France and having the CPVO file number 20082800.
  • CPVO Community Plant Variety Office
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is tolerant to abiotic stress, preferably drought, high salinity, high light intensities, high UV irradiation, chemical pollution (such as high heavy metal concentration), low or high temperatures, limitied supply of nutrients and population stress, most preferably drought, high salinity, low temperatures and limitied supply of nitrogen.
  • abiotic stress preferably drought, high salinity, high light intensities, high UV irradiation, chemical pollution (such as high heavy metal concentration), low or high temperatures, limitied supply of nutrients and population stress, most preferably drought, high salinity, low temperatures and limitied supply of nitrogen.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 6.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 6.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * referes to WO 2000/04173, WO 2007/131699 and US 2008/0229448.
  • F * refers to WO 2008/002480.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating culti- vated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is listed in table 7.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethi- prole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corre- sponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * referes to WO 2000/04173, WO 2007/131699 and US 2008/0229448.
  • B * referes to WO 2005/48693.
  • C * referes to WO 2007/20001.
  • D * referes to US 7256326.
  • E * referes to US 4731499.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which shows improved maturation, preferably fruit ripening, early maturity and delayed softening.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 8 or 8a.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 8 or 8a.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is ethi- prole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a transgenic plant, which has modified content in comparison to wildtype plants, preferably increased vitamin content, altered oil content, nicotine reduction, increased or reduced amino acid content, protein alteration, modified starch content, enzyme alteration, altered flavonoid content and reduced allergens (hypoallergenic plants), most preferably increased vitamin content, altered oil content, nicotine reduction, increased lysine content, amylase alteration, amylopectin alteration.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which corresponds to a row of table 9.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to row T9-48 of table 9 and the GABA is selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to row T9-49 of table 9 and the GABA is selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * refers to US 7294759 and US 7157621.
  • B * refers to the potato plant variety submitted for variety registration with the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), 3, boulevard Marechal Foch, BP 10121 , FR - 49101 Angers Cedex 02, France and having the CPVO file number 20031520.
  • C * refers to the potato plant variety submitted for variety registration with the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), 3, boulevard Marechal Foch, BP 10121 , FR - 49101 Angers Cedex 02, France and having the CPVO file number 20082534.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which corresponds to a row of table 10.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 10.
  • plant propagation materials preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 10.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 10.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corre- sponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-11 and T10-12 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-1 1 and T10-12 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-1 1 and T10-12 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-11 and T10-12 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-11 and T10-12 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-11 and T10-12 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * refers to US 7294759 and US 7157621.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which shows improved nutrient utilization, preferably the uptake, assimilation and metabolism of nitrogen and phosphorous.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which corresponds to a row of table 11.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 11.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 1.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 11 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 1 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 1 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 11 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 1 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 11 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is se- lected from T1 1-4, T1 1 -5, T1 1 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T1 1 -4, T11 -5, T11 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T1 1 -4, T11 -5, T11 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T11-4, T1 1 -5, T1 1 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T1 1 -4, T11 -5, T11 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T1 1 -4, T11 -5, T11 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * refers to US 6084153.
  • B * referes to US 5955651 and US 6864405.
  • C * refers to US 10/898,322 (application).
  • E * refers to WO 1995/00991 1.
  • F * refers to WO 1997/030163.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant selected from the group consisting of cotton, fiber plants (e.g. palms) and trees, preferably a cotton plant, which produces higher quality fiber, preferably improved micron- aire of the fiber, increased strength, improved staple length, improved length unifomity and color of the fibers.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cotton plants by treating cultivated plants parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil,.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cotton plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil,.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cotton plants by treating cultivated plants parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil,.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is male sterile or has an other trait as mentioned in table 12a.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is listed in table 12 or 12a.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 12 or 12a.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 12 or 12a.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * refers to US6281348, US6399856, US7230168, US6072102.
  • B * refers to WO2001062889.
  • C * refers to WO1996040949.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is resistant to antibiotics, more referably resistant to kanamycin, neomycin and ampicil- Nn, most preferably resistant to kanamycin.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant corresponding to a row of table 13.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corre- sponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * refers to Plant Cell Reports, 20, 2001 , 610-615. Trends in Plant Science, 11 , 2006, 317-319. Plant Molecular Biology, 37, 1998, 287-296. MoI Gen Genet., 257, 1998, 606- 13.
  • B * refers to Plant Cell Reports, 6, 1987, 333-336.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant has the trait of improved fiber quality.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a cotton plant comprising the DP 104 B2RF event ("DP 104 B2RF- A new early maturing B2RF variety" presented at 2008 Beltwide Cotton Conferences by Tom R. Speed, Richard Sheetz, Doug Shoemaker, Monsanto /Delta and Pine Land, see http://www.monsanto.com/pdf/beltwide_08/dp104b2rf_doc.pdf.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a transgenic plant, which has two traits stacked, more preferably two or more traits selected from the group consisting of herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, fungal resistance, viral resistance, bacterial resistance, stress tolerance, maturation alteration, content modification and modified nutrient uptake, most preferably the combination of herbicide tolerance and insect resistance, two herbicide tolerances, herbicide tolerance and stress tolerance, herbicide tolerance and modified content, two herbicide tolerances and insect resistance, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance and stress tolerance, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance and modified content.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14.
  • a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-1 1 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14-23, T14-24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-1 1 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14-23, T14-24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-1 1 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14-23, T14-24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-1 1 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14-23, T14- 24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-11 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14- 23, T14-24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-1 1 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14- 23, T14-24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is fipronil.
  • a * refers to US 5188642, US 4940835, US 5633435, US 5804425 and US 5627061.
  • B * refers to imidazolinone-herbicide resistant rice plants with specific mutation of the acetohydroxyacid synthase gene: S653N (see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), S654K (see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), A122T (see e.g.
  • WO 2004/106529 S653(At)N, S654(At)K, A122(At)T and other resistant rice plants as described in WO 2000/27182, WO 2005/20673 and WO 2001/85970 or US patents US 5545822, US 5736629, US 5773703, US 5773704, US- 5952553, US 6274796, wherein plants with mutation S653A and A122T are most preferred.
  • C * referes to WO 2000/04173, WO 2007/131699, US 20080229448 and WO 2005/48693.
  • E * refers to WO 1996/26639, US 7329802, US 6472588 and WO 2001/17333.
  • F * refers to sulfonylurea and imidazolinone herbicides, such as imazamox, imazethapyr, imazaquin, chlorimuron, flumetsulam, cloransulam, diclosulam and thifensulfuron.
  • G * refers to US 6380462, US 6365802, US 7294759 and US 7157621.
  • H * refers to Plant Cell Reports, 20, 2001 , 610-615. Trends in Plant Science, 11 , 2006, 317-319. Plant Molecular Biology, 37, 1998, 287-296. MoI Gen Genet., 257, 1998, 606- 13. Federal Register (USA), Vol.60, No.1 13, 1995, page 31 139. Federal Register (U- SA), Vol.67, No.226, 2002, page 70392. Federal Register (USA), Vol.63, No.88, 1998, page 25194. Federal Register (USA), Vol.60, No.141 , 1995, page 37870.
  • Preferred embodiments of the invention are those methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is a transgenic plant which is selected from the plants listed in table A.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table A and the GABA compound is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table A and the GABA compound is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table A and the GABA compound is fipronil.
  • Another preferred embodiment of the invention are those methods of controlling harm- ful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is a transgenic plant which is selected from the plants listed in table B.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table B and the GABA compound is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table B and the GABA compound is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table B and the GABA compound is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B- 46, B-47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B.
  • a GABA wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B- 46, B-47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B-46, B- 47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B and the GABA compound is endosulfan.
  • a GABA wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B-46, B- 47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B and the
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B-46, B- 47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B and the GABA compound is ethiprole.
  • a GABA wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B-46, B- 47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B and the
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B-46, B- 47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B and the GABA compound is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the GABA compound is endosulfan and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from aad, ACCase, ALS, AMY797E, APH4, bar, barnase, barstar, bla, bxn, cDHDPS, CP, cmv-cp, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry1A.1O5, Cry1 F, Cry1 Fa2, Cry2Ab, Cry34Ab1 , Cry35Ab1 , Cry3A, Cry3Bb1 , Cry9C, dam, DHFR, fad2, fan1 , FH, flcrylAb, GAT4601 , GAT4602, gmFAD2-1 , GM- HRA, goxv247, gus, he
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the GABA compound is ethiprole and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from aad, ACCase, ALS, AMY797E, APH4, bar, barnase, barstar, bla, bxn, cDHDPS, CP, cmv-cp, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry1A.1O5, Cry1 F, Cry1 Fa2, Cry2Ab, Cry34Ab1 , Cry35Ab1 , Cry3A, Cry3Bb1 , Cry9C, dam, DHFR, fad2, fan1 , FH, flcrylAb, GAT4601 , GAT4602, gmFAD2-1 , GM- HRA, goxv247, gus, he
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA
  • the GABA compound is fipronil and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from aad, ACCase, ALS, AMY797E, APH4, bar, barnase, barstar, bla, bxn, cDHDPS, CP, cmv-cp, CryiAb, Cry-IAc, Cry1A.1 O5, Cry1 F, Cry1 Fa2, Cry2Ab, Cry34Ab1 , Cry35Ab1 , Cry3A, Cry3Bb1 , Cry9C, dam, DHFR, fad2, fan1 , FH, flcryiAb, GAT4601 , GAT4602, gmFAD2-1 , GM- HRA, goxv247, gus, he
  • Further preferred embodiments of the invention are those methods of controlling harm- ful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant expresses one or more genes selected from CP4 epsps, pat, bar, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry3Bb1 , Cry2Ab, Cry1 F, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the GABA compound is endosulfan and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from CP4 epsps, pat, bar, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry3Bb1 , Cry2Ab, Cry1 F, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the GABA compound is ethiprole and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from CP4 epsps, pat, bar, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry3Bb1 , Cry2Ab, Cry1 F, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the GABA compound is fipronil and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from CP4 epsps, pat, bar, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry3Bb1 , Cry2Ab, Cry1 F, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1.
  • Further preferred embodiments of the invention are those methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is a transgenic plant which is selected from the plants listed in table C.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table C and the GABA compound is endosulfan.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table C and the GABA compound is ethiprole.
  • the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table C and the GABA compound is fipronil.
  • the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant and the GABA are selected as given in table D.
  • GABA All emodiements of the GABA as defined above are also referred to herein after as GABA according to the present invention. They can also be converted into agrochemi- cal compositions comprising a solvent or solid carrier and at least one GABAs accord- ing to the present invention.
  • An agrochemical composition comprises an insecticidal and/or plant health effective amount of a GABAs according to the present invention.
  • effective amount denotes an amount of the composition or of the GABAs according to the present invention, which is sufficient to achieve the synergistic effects related to fungal control and/or plant health and which does not result in a substantial damage to the treated plants. Such an amount can vary in a broad range and is dependent on various factors, such as the fungal species to be controlled, the treated cultivated plant or material, the climatic conditions.
  • compositions examples include solutions, emulsions, suspensions, dusts, powders, pastes and granules.
  • the composition type depends on the particular intended purpose; in each case, it should ensure a fine and uniform distribution of the compound according to the invention. More precise examples for composition types are suspensions (SC, OD, FS), pastes, pastilles, wettable powders or dusts (WP, SP, SS, WS, DP, DS) or granules (GR, FG, GG, MG), which can be water-soluble or wettable, as well as gel formulations for the treatment of plant propagation materials such as seeds (GF). Usually the composition types (e. g. SC, OD, FS, WG, SG, WP, SP, SS, WS, GF) are employed diluted. Composition types such as DP, DS, GR, FG, GG and MG are usually used undiluted.
  • compositions are prepared in a known manner (cf. US 3,060,084, EP-A 707 445 (for liquid concentrates), Browning: "Agglomeration”, Chemical Engineering, Dec. 4, 1967, 147-48, Perry's Chemical Engineer's Handbook, 4th Ed., McGraw-Hill, New
  • the agrochemical compositions may also comprise auxiliaries which are customary in agrochemical compositions.
  • the auxiliaries used depend on the particular application form and active substance, respectively.
  • suitable auxiliaries are solvents, solid carriers, dispersants or emulsifiers (such as further solubilizers, protective colloids, surfactants and adhesion agents), organic and anorganic thickeners, bactericides, anti-freezing agents, anti-foaming agents, if appropriate colorants and tackifiers or binders (e. g. for seed treatment formulations).
  • Suitable solvents are water, organic solvents such as mineral oil fractions of medium to high boiling point, such as kerosene or diesel oil, furthermore coal tar oils and oils of vegetable or animal origin, aliphatic, cyclic and aromatic hydrocarbons, e. g.
  • Solid carriers are mineral earths such as silicates, silica gels, talc, kaolins, limestone, lime, chalk, bole, loess, clays, dolomite, diatomaceous earth, calcium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, magnesium oxide, ground synthetic materials, fertilizers, such as, e. g., ammonium sulfate, ammonium phosphate, ammonium nitrate, ureas and products of vegetable origin, such as cereal meal, tree bark meal, wood meal and nutshell meal, cellulose powders and other solid carriers.
  • mineral earths such as silicates, silica gels, talc, kaolins, limestone, lime, chalk, bole, loess, clays, dolomite, diatomaceous earth, calcium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, magnesium oxide, ground synthetic materials, fertilizers, such as, e. g., ammonium sulfate, ammonium phosphate
  • Suitable surfactants are alkali metal, alkaline earth metal and ammonium salts of aromatic sulfonic acids, such as ligninsoulfonic acid (Borresperse® types, Borregard, Norway) phenolsulfonic acid, naphthalenesulfonic acid (Morwet® types, Akzo Nobel, U.S.A.), dibutylnaphthalene- sulfonic acid (Nekal® types, BASF, Germany), and fatty acids, alkylsulfonates, alkyl- arylsulfonates, alkyl sulfates, laurylether sulfates, fatty alcohol sulfates and sulfated hexa-, hepta- and octadecanolates, sulfated fatty alcohol glycol ethers, furthermore conden
  • methylcellulose g. methylcellulose
  • hydrophobically modified starches polyvinyl alcohols (Mowiol® types, Clariant, Switzerland), polycarboxylates (Sokolan® types, BASF, Germany), polyalkoxylates, polyvi- nylamines (Lupasol® types, BASF, Germany), polyvinylpyrrolidone and the copolymers therof.
  • thickeners i. e. compounds that impart a modified flowability to composi- tions, i. e.
  • Xanthan gum Kelzan®, CP Kelco, U.S.A.
  • Rhodopol® 23 Rhodia, France
  • Veegum® RT. Vanderbilt, U.S.A.
  • Attaclay® Engelhard Corp., NJ, USA.
  • Bactericides may be added for preservation and stabilization of the composition.
  • bactericides those based on dichlorophene and benzylalcohol hemi formal (Proxel® from ICI or Acticide® RS from Thor Chemie and Kathon® MK from Rohm & Haas) and isothiazolinone derivatives such as alkylisothiazolinones and benzisothiazolinones (Acticide® MBS from Thor Chemie).
  • suitable anti-freezing agents are ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, urea and glycerin.
  • anti-foaming agents examples include silicone emulsions (such as e. g. Silikon® SRE, Wacker, Germany or Rhodorsil®, Rhodia, France), long chain alcohols, fatty acids, salts of fatty acids, fluoroorganic compounds and mixtures thereof.
  • Suitable colorants are pigments of low water solubility and water-soluble dyes. Exam- pies to be mentioned und the designations rhodamin B, C. I. pigment red 112, C. I.
  • solvent red 1 pigment blue 15:4, pigment blue 15:3, pigment blue 15:2, pigment blue 15:1 , pigment blue 80, pigment yellow 1 , pigment yellow 13, pigment red 112, pigment red 48:2, pigment red 48:1 , pigment red 57:1 , pigment red 53:1 , pigment orange 43, pigment orange 34, pigment orange 5, pigment green 36, pigment green 7, pigment white 6, pigment brown 25, basic violet 10, basic violet 49, acid red 51 , acid red 52, acid red 14, acid blue 9, acid yellow 23, basic red 10, basic red 108.
  • tackifiers or binders are polyvinylpyrrolidons, polyvinylacetates, polyvinyl alcohols and cellulose ethers (Tylose®, Shin-Etsu, Japan).
  • Powders, materials for spreading and dusts can be prepared by mixing or conco- mitantly grinding the compounds I and, if appropriate, further active substances, with at least one solid carrier.
  • Granules e. g. coated granules, impregnated granules and homogeGABAus granules, can be prepared by binding the active substances to solid carriers.
  • solid carriers are mineral earths such as silica gels, silicates, talc, kaolin, attaclay, limestone, lime, chalk, bole, loess, clay, dolomite, diatomaceous earth, calcium sulfate, magne- sium sulfate, magnesium oxide, ground synthetic materials, fertilizers, such as, e.
  • ammonium sulfate ammonium phosphate
  • ammonium nitrate ammonium nitrate
  • ureas and products of vegetable origin such as cereal meal, tree bark meal, wood meal and nutshell meal, cellulose powders and other solid carriers.
  • composition types are:
  • composition types for dilution with water i) Water-soluble concentrates (SL, LS)
  • a GABAs according to the present invention 10 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are dissolved in 90 parts by weight of water or in a water-soluble solvent.
  • wetting agents or other auxiliaries are added. The active substance dissolves upon dilution with water.
  • Emulsions (EW, EO, ES)
  • GABAs 25 parts by weight of GABAs according to the present invention are dissolved in 35 parts by weight of xylene with addition of calcium dodecylbenzenesulfonate and castor oil ethoxylate (in each case 5 parts by weight).
  • This mixture is introduced into 30 parts by weight of water by means of an emulsifying machine (Ultraturrax) and made into a homogeGABAus emulsion. Dilution with water gives an emulsion.
  • the composition has an active substance content of 25% by weight.
  • Suspensions SC, OD, FS
  • a GABAs according to the present invention are comminuted with addition of 10 parts by weight of dispersants and wetting agents and 70 parts by weight of water or an organic solvent to give a fine active substance suspension. Dilution with water gives a stable suspension of the active sub- stance.
  • the active substance content in the composition is 20% by weight, vi) Water-dispersible granules and water-soluble granules (WG, SG) 50 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are ground finely with addition of 50 parts by weight of dispersants and wetting agents and prepared as water-dispersible or water-soluble granules by means of technical appliances (e. g.
  • the composition has an active substance content of 50% by weight.
  • WP, SP, SS, WS Water-dispersible powders and water-soluble powders (WP, SP, SS, WS) 75 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are ground in a rotor- stator mill with addition of 25 parts by weight of dispersants, wetting agents and silica gel. Dilution with water gives a stable dispersion or solution of the active substance.
  • the active substance content of the composition is 75% by weight
  • GF Gel
  • a GABAs according to the present invention are comminuted with addition of 10 parts by weight of dispersants, 1 part by weight of a gelling agent wetters and 70 parts by weight of water or of an organic solvent to give a fine suspension of the active substance. Dilution with water gives a stable suspension of the active substance, whereby a composition with 20% (w/w) of active substance is obtained.
  • Composition types to be applied undiluted ix Dustable powders (DP, DS)
  • the agrochemical compositions generally comprise between 0.01 and 95%, preferably between 0.1 and 90%, most preferably between 0.5 and 90%, by weight of active substance.
  • the active substances are employed in a purity of from 90% to 100%, preferably from 95% to 100% (according to NMR spectrum).
  • Water-soluble concentrates (LS), flowable concentrates (FS), powders for dry treatment (DS), water-dispersible powders for slurry treatment (WS), water-soluble powders (SS), emulsions (ES) emulsifiable concentrates (EC) and gels (GF) are usually employed for the purposes of treatment of plant propagation materials, particularly seeds.
  • These compositions can be applied to plant propagation materials, particularly seeds, diluted or undiluted.
  • the compositions in question give, after two-to-tenfold dilution, active substance concentrations of from 0.01 to 60% by weight, preferably from 0.1 to 40% by weight, in the ready-to-use preparations. Application can be carried out before or during sowing.
  • Methods for applying or treating agrochemical compounds and com- positions thereof, respectively, on to plant propagation material, especially seeds are known in the art and include dressing, coating, pelleting, dusting, soaking and in-furrow application methods of the propagation material.
  • the compounds or the compositions thereof, respectively are applied on to the plant propagation material by a method such that germination is not induced, e. g. by seed dressing, pelleting, coating and dusting.
  • a suspension-type (FS) composition is used for seed treatment.
  • a FS composition may comprise 1-800 g/l of active substance, 1-200 g/l Surfactant, 0 to 200 g/l antifreezing agent, 0 to 400 g/l of binder, 0 to 200 g/l of a pigment and up to 1 liter of a solvent, preferably water.
  • the GABAs according to the present invention can be used as such or in the form of their compositions, e. g.
  • Aqueous application forms can be prepared from emulsion concentrates, pastes or wettable powders (sprayable powders, oil dispersions) by adding water.
  • the substances as such or dissolved in an oil or solvent, can be homogenized in water by means of a wetter, tackifier, dispersant or emulsifier.
  • concentrates composed of active substance, wetter, tackifier, dispersant or emulsifier and, if appropriate, solvent or oil and such concentrates are suitable for dilution with water.
  • the active substance concentrations in the ready-to-use preparations can be varied within relatively wide ranges. In general, they are from 0.0001 to 10%, preferably from 0.001 to 1 % by weight of active substance.
  • the active substances may also be used successfully in the ultra-low-volume process (ULV), it being possible to apply compositions comprising over 95% by weight of active substance, or even to apply the active substance without additives.
  • UUV ultra-low-volume process
  • the amounts of active substances applied are, depending on the kind of effect desired, from 0.001 to 2 kg per ha, preferably from 0.005 to 2 kg per ha, more preferably from 0.05 to 0.9 kg per ha, in particular from 0.1 to 0.75 kg per ha.
  • amounts of active substance of from 0.1 to 1000 g, preferably from 1 to 1000 g, more preferably from 1 to 100 g and most preferably from 5 to 100 g, per 100 kilogram of plant propagation material (preferably seed) are generally required.
  • oils, wetters, adjuvants, herbicides, fungicides, bactericides, other insecticides and/or pesticides may be added to the active substances or the compositions comprising them, if appropriate not until immediately prior to use (tank mix).
  • These agents can be admixed with the compositions according to the invention in a weight ratio of 1 :100 to 100:1 , preferably 1 :10 to 10:1.
  • Adjuvants which can be used are in particular organic modified polysiloxanes such as Break Thru S 240®; alcohol alkoxylates such as Atplus 245®, Atplus MBA 1303®, PIu- rafac LF 300® and Lutensol ON 30®; EO/PO block polymers, e. g. Pluronic RPE 2035® and Genapol B®; alcohol ethoxylates such as Lutensol XP 80®; and dioctyl sulfosuccinate sodium such as Leophen RA®.
  • organic modified polysiloxanes such as Break Thru S 240®
  • alcohol alkoxylates such as Atplus 245®, Atplus MBA 1303®, PIu- rafac LF 300® and Lutensol ON 30®
  • EO/PO block polymers e. g. Pluronic RPE 2035® and Genapol B®
  • alcohol ethoxylates such as Lutensol X
  • compositions according to the invention can, in the use form as insecticides, also be present together with other active substances, e. g. with herbicides, fungicides, growth regulators or else with fertilizers, as pre-mix or, if appropriate, not until im- meadiately prior to use (tank mix).
  • active substances e. g. with herbicides, fungicides, growth regulators or else with fertilizers, as pre-mix or, if appropriate, not until im- meadiately prior to use (tank mix).
  • the inventive mixtures are used for the pro- tection of the plant propagation material, e.g. the seeds and the seedlings' roots and shoots, preferably the seeds.
  • Seed treatment can be made into the seedbox before planting into the field.
  • the weight ration in the binary, ternary and quaternary mixtures of the present invention generally depends from the properties of the GABAs according to the present invention.
  • compositions which are especially useful for seed treatment are e.g.:
  • a Soluble concentrates (SL, LS)
  • compositions can be applied to plant propagation materials, particularly seeds, diluted or undiluted. These compositions can be applied to plant propagation materials, particularly seeds, diluted or undiluted.
  • the compositions in question give, after two-to- tenfold dilution, active substance concentrations of from 0.01 to 60% by weight, pref- erably from 0.1 to 40% by weight, in the ready-to-use preparations. Application can be carried out before or during sowing.
  • Methods for applying or treating agrochemical compounds and compositions thereof, respectively, on to plant propagation material, especially seeds are known in the art and include dressing, coating, pelleting, dusting and soaking application methods of the propagation material (and also in furrow treatment).
  • the compounds or the compositions thereof, respectively are applied on to the plant propagation material by a method such that germination is not induced, e. g. by seed dressing, pelleting, coating and dusting.
  • the application rates of the inventive mixture are generally for the formulated product (which usually comprises from10 to 750 g/l of the active(s).
  • the invention also relates to the propagation products of plants and especially the seed comprising, that is, coated with and/or containing, a mixture as defined above or a composition containing the mixture of two or more active ingredients or a mixture of two or more compositions each providing one of the active ingredients.
  • the plant propagation material (preferably seed) comprises the inventive mixtures in an amount of from 0.1 g to 10 kg per 100 kg of plant propagation material (preferably seed).
  • the process of the present invention uses in one embodiment transgenic plants, parts thereof, cells or organelles.
  • transgenic means with regard to, for example, a nucleic acid sequence, an expression cassette, gene construct or a vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence or an organism transformed with the nucleic acid sequences, expression cassettes or vectors, all those constructions brought about by recombinant methods in which either
  • nucleic acid sequences encoding proteins useful in the methods of the invention or (b) genetic control sequence(s) which is operably linked with the nucleic acid sequence according to the invention, for example a promoter, or (c) a) and b) are not located in their natural genetic environment or have been modified by recombinant methods, it being possible for the modification to take the form of, for example, a substitution, addition, deletion, inversion or insertion of one or more nucleotide residues.
  • the natural genetic environment is understood as meaning the natural genomic or chromosomal locus in the original plant and can be deduced from the presence in a genomic library.
  • the natural genetic environment of the nucleic acid sequence is preferably retained, at least in part.
  • the environment flanks the nucleic acid sequence at least on one side and has a sequence length of at least 50 bp, preferably at least 500 bp, especially preferably at least 1000 bp, most preferably at least 5000 bp.
  • a naturally occurring expression cassette - for example the natu- rally occurring combination of the natural promoter of the nucleic acid sequences with the corresponding nucleic acid sequence - becomes a transgenic expression cassette when this expression cassette is modified by non-natural, synthetic ("artificial") methods such as, for example, mutagenic treatment. Suitable methods are described, for example, in US 5565350 or WO 2000/15815.
  • transgenic plant for the purposes of the invention is thus understood as meaning, as above, that the nucleic acids are not at their natural locus in the genome of said plant, it being possible for the nucleic acids to be expressed homologously or heterologously.
  • transgenic also means that, while the nucleic acids are at their natural position in the genome of a plant, the sequence has been modified with regard to the natural sequence, and/or that the regulatory sequences of the natural sequences have been modified.
  • Transgenic is preferably understood as meaning the expression of the nucleic acids at an unnatural locus in the genome, i.e. homologous or, prefera- bly, heterologous expression of the nucleic acids takes place.
  • Preferred transgenic plants are mentioned herein.
  • transgenic plants may be any listed in Table A, such as any of A-1 to A-156. Further, the transgenic plants used in the process of the invention may comprise as transgene any one or several of the genes listed in Table B.
  • transgenic plants are not limited to transgenic plants, and not to these transgenic plants.
  • Other transgenic plants suitable for the process of the present invention may be generated by methods known in the art.
  • exemplary methods to produce transgenic plants suitable fort the process of the present invention are exemplified in a non-limiting fashion. The person skilled in the art is well aware that the methods used to produce the transgenic plants are not critical for the use of such plants in working the present invention.
  • introduction or “transformation” as referred to herein encompasses the transfer of an exogenous polynucleotide into a host cell, irrespective of the method used for transfer.
  • transformation or “transformed” preferably refers to the transfer of an exogenous polynucleotide into a host cell, irrespective of the method used for transfer.
  • Transformation methods include the use of liposomes, electroporation, chemicals that increase free DNA uptake, injection of the DNA directly into the plant, particle gun bombardment, transformation using viruses or pollen and microprojection.
  • Methods may be selected from the calcium/polyethylene glycol method for protoplasts (Krens, F.A. et al., (1982) Nature 296, 72-74; Negrutiu I et al. (1987) Plant MoI Biol 8: 363-373); electroporation of protoplasts (Shillito R.D. et al. (1985) Bio/Technol 3, 1099-1 102); microinjection into plant material (Crossway A et al., (1986) MoI.
  • Transgenic plants including transgenic crop plants, are preferably produced via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.
  • a suitable vector e.g. a binary vector can be transformed into a suitable Agrobacterium strain e.g. LBA4044 according to methods well known in the art.
  • a transformed Agrobacterium may then be used to transform plant cells, as disclosed in the following examples.
  • the Agrobacterium containing the expression vector is used to transform Oryza sativa plants.
  • Mature dry seeds of the rice japonica cultivar Nipponbare are dehusked. Sterilization is carried out by incubating for one minute in 70% ethanol, followed by 30 minutes in 0.2% HgCb, followed by a 6 times 15 minutes ish with sterile distilled water. The sterile seeds are then germinated on a medium containing 2,4-D (callus induction medium). After incubation in the dark for four weeks, embryogenic, scutellum-derived calli are excised and propagated on the same medium. After two weeks, the calli are multiplied or propagated by subculture on the same medium for another 2 weeks. Embryogenic callus pieces are sub-cultured on fresh medium 3 days before co-cultivation (to boost cell division activity).
  • Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 containing the expression vector is used for co- cultivation.
  • Agrobacterium is inoculated on AB medium with the appropriate antibiotics and cultured for 3 days at 28°C.
  • the bacteria are then collected and suspended in liquid co-cultivation medium to a density (OD ⁇ oo) of about 1.
  • the suspension is then transferred to a Petri dish and the calli immersed in the suspension for 15 minutes.
  • the callus tissues are then blotted dry on a filter paper and transferred to solidified, co- cultivation medium and incubated for 3 days in the dark at 25°C.
  • Co-cultivated calli are grown on 2,4-D-containing medium for 4 weeks in the dark at 28°C in the presence of a selection agent. During this period, rapidly growing resistant callus islands developed.
  • TO rice transformants Approximately 35 independent TO rice transformants are generated for one construct.
  • the primary transformants are transferred from a tissue culture chamber to a greenhouse. After a quantitative PCR analysis to verify copy number of the T-DNA insert, only single copy transgenic plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent are kept for harvest of T1 seed. Seeds are then harvested three to five months after transplant- ing. The method yielded single locus transformants at a rate of over 50 % (Aldemita and Hodges1996, Chan et al. 1993, Hiei et al. 1994).
  • T1 seedlings containing the transgene are selected by monitoring visual marker expression.
  • Transformation of maize (Zea mays) is performed with a modification of the method described by lshida et al. (1996) Nature Biotech 14(6): 745-50. Transformation is genotype-dependent in corn and only specific genotypes are amenable to transformation and regeneration.
  • the inbred line A188 (University of Minnesota) or hybrids with A188 as a parent are good sources of donor material for transformation, but other genotypes can be used successfully as well.
  • Ears are harvested from corn plant approximately 11 days after pollination (DAP) when the length of the immature embryo is about 1 to 1.2 mm. Immature embryos are cocultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing the expression vector, and transgenic plants are recovered through organogenesis.
  • Excised embryos are grown on callus induction medium, then maize regeneration medium, containing the selection agent (for example imidazolinone but various selection markers can be used).
  • the Petri plates are incubated in the light at 25 0 C for 2-3 weeks, or until shoots develop.
  • the green shoots are transferred from each embryo to maize rooting medium and incubated at 25 0 C for 2-3 weeks, until roots develop.
  • the rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse.
  • T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.
  • Transformation of wheat is performed with the method described by lshida et al. (1996) Nature Biotech 14(6): 745-50.
  • the cultivar Bobwhite (available from CIMMYT, Mexico) is commonly used in transformation. Immature embryos are co-cultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing the expression vector, and transgenic plants are recov- ered through organogenesis. After incubation with Agrobacterium, the embryos are grown in vitro on callus induction medium, then regeneration medium, containing the selection agent (for example imidazolinone but various selection markers can be used). The Petri plates are incubated in the light at 25 0 C for 2-3 weeks, or until shoots develop.
  • the selection agent for example imidazolinone but various selection markers can be used.
  • the green shoots are transferred from each embryo to rooting medium and in- cubated at 25 0 C for 2-3 weeks, until roots develop.
  • the rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse.
  • T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert. Soybean transformation
  • Soybean is transformed according to a modification of the method described in the Texas A&M patent US 5,164,310.
  • Several commercial soybean varieties are amenable to transformation by this method.
  • the cultivar Jack (available from the Illinois Seed foundation) is commonly used for transformation. Soybean seeds are sterilised for in vitro sowing. The hypocotyl, the radicle and one cotyledon are excised from seven-day old young seedlings. The epicotyl and the remaining cotyledon are further grown to develop axillary nodes. These axillary nodes are excised and incubated with Agrobac- terium tumefaciens containing the expression vector. After the cocultivation treatment, the explants are ished and transferred to selection media.
  • Regenerated shoots are excised and placed on a shoot elongation medium. Plants no longer than 1 cm are placed on rooting medium until roots develop. The rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.
  • Cotyledonary petioles and hypocotyls of 5-6 day old young seedling are used as ex- plants for tissue culture and transformed according to Babic et al. (1998, Plant Cell Rep 17: 183-188).
  • the commercial cultivar Westar (Agriculture Canada) is the standard variety used for transformation, but other varieties can also be used.
  • Canola seeds are surface-sterilized for in vitro sowing.
  • the cotyledon petiole explants with the cotyledon attached are excised from the in vitro seedlings, and inoculated with Agrobacterium (containing the expression vector) by dipping the cut end of the petiole explant into the bacterial suspension.
  • the explants are then cultured for 2 days on MSBAP-3 medium containing 3 mg/l BAP, 3 % sucrose, 0.7 % Phytagar at 23 0 C, 16 hr light. After two days of co-cultivation with Agrobacterium, the petiole explants are transferred to MSBAP-3 medium containing 3 mg/l BAP, cefotaxime, carbenicillin, or timentin (300 mg/l) for 7 days, and then cultured on MSBAP-3 medium with cefotaxime, carbenicillin, or timentin and selection agent until shoot regeneration.
  • the shoots When the shoots are 5 - 10 mm in length, they are cut and transferred to shoot elongation medium (MSBAP-0.5, containing 0.5 mg/l BAP). Shoots of about 2 cm in length are transferred to the rooting medium (MSO) for root induction. The rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.
  • MSBAP-0.5 shoot elongation medium
  • MSO rooting medium
  • a regenerating clone of alfalfa ⁇ Medicago sativa is transformed using the method of (McKersie et al., 1999 Plant Physiol 1 19: 839-847). Regeneration and transformation of alfalfa is genotype dependent and therefore a regenerating plant is required. Methods to obtain regenerating plants have been described. For example, these can be selected from the cultivar Rangelander (Agriculture Canada) or any other commercial alfalfa variety as described by Brown DCW and A Atanassov (1985. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Culture 4: 11 1-112). Alternatively, the RA3 variety (University of Wisconsin) has been selected for use in tissue culture (Walker et al., 1978 Am J Bot 65:654-659).
  • Petiole explants are cocultivated with an overnight culture of Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58C1 pMP90 (McKersie et al., 1999 Plant Physiol 119: 839-847) or LBA4404 containing the expression vector.
  • the explants are cocultivated for 3 d in the dark on SH induction medium containing 288 mg/ L Pro, 53 mg/ L thioproline, 4.35 g/ L K2SO4, and 100 ⁇ m acetosyringinone.
  • the explants are ished in half-strength Murashige- Skoog medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) and plated on the same SH induction medium without acetosyringinone but with a suitable selection agent and suitable antibiotic to inhibit Agrobacterium growth. After several weeks, somatic embryos are transferred to BOi2Y development medium containing no growth regulators, no antibiotics, and 50 g/ L sucrose. Somatic embryos are subsequently germinated on half-strength Murashige-Skoog medium. Rooted seedlings are transplanted into pots and grown in a greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.
  • Cotton is transformed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens according to the method de- scribed in US 5,159,135. Cotton seeds are surface sterilised in 3% sodium hypochlorite solution during 20 minutes and ished in distilled water with 500 ⁇ g/ml cefotaxime. The seeds are then transferred to SH-medium with 50 ⁇ g/ml benomyl for germination. Hypocotyls of 4 to 6 days old seedlings are removed, cut into 0.5 cm pieces and are placed on 0.8% agar. An Agrobacterium suspension (approx. 108 cells per ml, diluted from an overnight culture transformed with the gene of interest and suitable selection markers) is used for inoculation of the hypocotyl explants.
  • the tissues are transferred to a solid medium (1.6 g/l Gelrite) with Murashige and Skoog salts with B5 vitamins (Gamborg et al., Exp. Cell Res. 50:151- 158 (1968)), 0.1 mg/l 2,4-D, 0.1 mg/l 6-furfurylaminopurine and 750 ⁇ g/ml MgCL2, and with 50 to 100 ⁇ g/ml cefotaxime and 400-500 ⁇ g/ml carbenicillin to kill residual bacteria.
  • Individual cell lines are isolated after two to three months (with subcultures every four to six weeks) and are further cultivated on selective medium for tissue amplification (30 0 C, 16 hr photoperiod).
  • Transformed tissues are subsequently further cultivated on non-selective medium during 2 to 3 months to give rise to somatic embryos.
  • Healthy looking embryos of at least 4 mm length are transferred to tubes with SH medium in fine vermiculite, supplemented with 0.1 mg/l indole acetic acid, 6 furfurylaminopurine and gibberellic acid.
  • the embryos are cultivated at 30 0 C with a photoperiod of 16 hrs, and plantlets at the 2 to 3 leaf stage are transferred to pots with vermiculite and nutrients.
  • the plants are hardened and subsequently moved to the greenhouse for further cultivation. #
  • the ligated constructs are transformed in the same reaction vessel by addition of competent E. coli cells (strain DH5alpha) and incubation for 20 minutes at 1 °C followed by a heat shock for 90 seconds at 42°C and cooling to 1-4°C. Then, complete medium (SOC) is added and the mixture is incubated for 45 minutes at 37°C. The entire mixture is subsequently plated onto an agar plate with 0.05 mg/ml kanamycine and incubated overnight at 37°C. The outcome of the cloning step is verified by amplification with the aid of primers which bind upstream and downstream of the integration site, thus allowing the amplification of the insertion. The amplifications are carried out as described in the protocol of Taq DNA polymerase (Gibco-BRL).
  • the amplification cycles are as follows:
  • a portion of this positive colony is transferred into a reaction vessel filled with complete medium (LB) supplemented with kanamycin and incubated overnight at 37°C.
  • LB complete medium
  • the plasmid preparation is carried out as specified in the Qiaprep or NucleoSpin Multi-96 Plus standard protocol (Qiagen or Macherey-Nagel).
  • the agrobacteria that contains the plasmid construct are then used for the transfor- mation of plants.
  • a colony is picked from the agar plate with the aid of a pipette tip and taken up in 3 ml of liquid TB medium, which also contained suitable antibiotics as described above.
  • the preculture is grown for 48 hours at 28°C and 120 rpm. 400 ml of LB medium containing the same antibiotics as above are used for the main culture.
  • the preculture is transferred into the main culture. It is grown for 18 hours at 28°C and 120 rpm. After centrifugation at 4 000 rpm, the pellet is resuspended in infiltration medium (MS medium, 10% sucrose).
  • dishes In order to grow the plants for the transformation, dishes (Piki Saat 80, green, provided with a screen bottom, 30 x 20 x 4.5 cm, from Wiesauplast, Kunststofftechnik, Germany) are half-filled with a GS 90 substrate (standard soil, Werkval E. V., Germany). The dishes are watered overnight with 0.05% Proplant solution (Chimac- Apriphar, Belgium). Arabidopsis thaliana C24 seeds (Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre, UK; NASC Stock N906) are scattered over the dish, approximately 1 000 seeds per dish. The dishes are covered with a hood and placed in the stratification facility (8 h, 1 10 ⁇ mol/m2s1 , 22°C; 16 h, dark, 6°C). After 5 days, the dishes are placed into the short-day controlled environment chamber (8 h, 130 ⁇ mol/m2s1 , 22°C; 16 h, dark, 20 0 C), where they remained for approximately 10 days until the first true leaves had formed.
  • the seedlings are transferred into pots containing the same substrate (Teku pots, 7 cm, LC series, manufactured by Poppelmann GmbH & Co, Germany). Five plants are pricked out into each pot. The pots are then returned into the short-day controlled environment chamber for the plant to continue growing.
  • the plants are transferred into the greenhouse cabinet (supplementary illumination, 16 h, 340 ⁇ E/m2s, 22°C; 8 h, dark, 20 0 C), where they are allowed to grow for further 17 days.
  • the harvested seeds are planted in the greenhouse and subjected to a spray selection or else first sterilized and then grown on agar plates supplemented with the respective selection agent. Since the vector contained the bar gene as the resistance marker, plantlets are sprayed four times at an interval of 2 to 3 days with 0.02 % BASTA® and transformed plants are allowed to set seeds. The seeds of the transgenic A. thaliana plants are stored in the freezer (at -20 0 C).
  • Example II Application of a GABA compound selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5- amino-1 -(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide.
  • a GABA compound selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5- amino-1 -(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide.
  • a Seed Treatments Control and cultivated corn seeds of the T2 generation are treated with deionized water (Blank), 10 grams to 200 grams of a GABA; all formulation rates are grams /100 kg seed. Every formulation is applied to approximately 80 seeds.
  • the formulation is pipetted into a 125 ml flask along the sides and bottom of the flask before adding the seeds and shaking the flask for 30 seconds.
  • the coated seeds are then removed from the flask and placed in a plastic dish for drying.
  • the plants are maintained in a greenhouse under optimal, well-watered conditions (80- 90% field capacity) upon emergence. Supplemental nutrients are administered every third day during watering.
  • the greenhouse temperature is maintained at 30 0 C, relative humidity at 75%, and light at 350 ⁇ mol n ⁇ 2 s" 1 , in a 15-hour day / 9-hour night photope- riod. Supplemental lighting is provided using metal-halide lights. Once per week, the pots are randomly mixed within each block.
  • the cultivated plants and the corresponding controls are grown side-by-side at random positions.
  • Greenhouse conditions are of shorts days (12 hours light), 28°C in the light and 22°C in the dark, and a relative humidity of 70%. Plants grown under non-stress conditions are watered at regular intervals to ensure that water and nutrients are not limiting and to satisfy plant needs to complete growth and development.
  • F test A two factor ANOVA analysis of variants
  • An F test is carried out on all the parameters measured of all the plants of all the.
  • the threshold for significance for a true global gene effect is set at a 5% probability level for the F test.
  • the plants are passed several times through a digital imaging cabinet. At each time point digital images (2048x1536 pixels, 16 million colours) are taken of each plant from at least 6 different angles.
  • the plant aboveground area (or leafy biomass) is determined by counting the total number of pixels on the digital images from aboveground plant parts discriminated from the background. This value is averaged for the pictures taken on the same time point from the different angles and is converted to a physical surface value expressed in square mm by calibration.
  • the aboveground plant area measured this way correlates with the biomass of plant parts above ground.
  • the above ground area is the area measured at the time point at which the plant had reached its maximal leafy biomass.
  • the early vigour is the plant (seedling) aboveground area three weeks post-germination.
  • Increase in root biomass is expressed as an increase in total root biomass (measured as maximum biomass of roots observed during the lifespan of a plant); or as an increase in the root/shoot index (measured as the ratio be- tween root mass and shoot mass in the period of active growth of root and shoot).
  • Early vigour is determined by counting the total number of pixels from aboveground plant parts discriminated from the background. This value is averaged for the pictures taken on the same time point from different angles and is converted to a physical sur- face value expressed in square mm by calibration. Seed-related parameter measurements
  • the mature primary panicles are harvested, counted, bagged, barcode-labelled and then dried for three days in an oven at 37°C.
  • the panicles are then threshed and all the seeds are collected and counted.
  • the filled husks are separated from the empty ones using an air-blowing device.
  • the empty husks are discarded and the remaining fraction is counted again.
  • the filled husks are weighed on an analytical balance.
  • the number of filled seeds is determined by counting the number of filled husks that remained after the separation step.
  • the total seed yield is measured by weighing all filled husks har- vested from a plant. Total seed number per plant is measured by counting the number of husks harvested from a plant.
  • Thousand Kernel Weight is extrapolated from the number of filled seeds counted and their total weight.
  • the Harvest Index (HI) in the present invention is defined as the ratio between the total seed yield and the above ground area (mm 2 ), multiplied by a factor 10 6 .
  • the total number of flowers per panicle as defined in the present invention is the ratio between the total number of seeds and the number of mature primary panicles.
  • the seed fill rate as defined in the present invention is the proportion (expressed as a %) of the number of filled seeds over the total number of seeds (or florets).
  • a plant screening for yield increase in this case: biomass yield in- crease
  • soil is prepared as 3.5:1 (v/v) mixture of nutrient rich soil (GS90, Tantau, Wansdorf, Germany) and quarz sand.
  • plants can be sown on nutrient rich soil (GS90, Tantau, Germany).
  • Pots can be filled with soil mixture and placed into trays. Water can be added to the trays to let the soil mixture take up appropriate amount of water for the sowing procedure.
  • the seeds for transgenic A. thaliana plants and their controls for example non-trangenic wild-type can be sown in pots (6cm diameter).
  • Stratification can be established for a period of 3- 4 days in the dark at 4°C-5°C. Germination of seeds and growth can be initiated at a growth condition of 20 0 C, and approx. 60% relative humidity, 16h photoperiod and NIu- mination with fluorescent light at approximately 200 ⁇ mol/m 2 s.
  • a selection step can be performed, e.g. BASTA selection. This can be done at day 10 or day 11 (9 or 10 days after sowing) by spraying pots with plantlets from the top.
  • a 0.07% (v/v) solution of BASTA concentrate (183 g/l glufosinate-ammonium) in tap wa- ter can be sprayed once or, alternatively, a 0.02% (v/v) solution of BASTA can be sprayed three times.
  • the wild-type control plants can be sprayed with tap water only (instead of spraying with BASTA dissolved in tap water) but can be otherwise treated identically.
  • Plants can be individualized 13-14 days after sowing by removing the surplus of seedlings and leaving one seedling in soil. Transgenic events and control plants can be evenly distributed over the chamber. Watering can be carried out every two days after removing the covers in a standard experiment or, alternatively, every day.
  • Treatment with formulations of active ingredients can be performed as described in this application or by any known method.
  • plant fresh weight can be determined at harvest time (24-29 days after sowing) by cutting shoots and weighing them. Plants can be in the stage prior to flowering and prior to growth of inflorescence when harvested.
  • Transgenic plants can be compared to the non-transgenic wild- control plants, which can be harvested at the same day. Significance values for the statistical significance of the biomass changes can be calculated by applying the 'student's' t test (parameters: two-sided, unequal variance).
  • Biomass production can be measured by weighing plant rosettes. Biomass increase can be calculated as ratio of average weight of transgenic plants compared to average weight of control plants from the same experiment. The mean biomass increase of transgenics can be given (significance value ⁇ 0.3 and biomass increase > 5% (ratio > 1.05)).
  • Seed yield can be measured by collecting all seed form a plant and measuring the thousand kernel weight. Various methods are known in the art.
  • the cultivated plants treated according to the method of the invention show increased plant health.
  • Soybeans were grown in 2005 at Renascenga in the Parana region, Brazil.
  • the soybean variety CD202 was planted at a seeding rate of 12 plants per m in a row. Row spacing was 40 cm. Plot size was 30 m 2 .
  • Fipronil was applied as a seed treatment as the commercially available flowable concentrate (REGENT 250 FS) containing 250 g active ingredient per liter with a product rate of 100 and 200 ml per 100 kg of seed.
  • REGENT 250 FS commercially available flowable concentrate
  • Emergence was assessed by counting the number of plants per 1 m in the row. In addition, the trial was harvested and the grain yield was measured (Tab. V-1 ).
  • Fipronil improves the emergence of soybeans.
  • the treatment with Fipronil results in an increase in grain yield compared to the untreated control.
  • the improvement for emergence (increased plants per m row) and the increase in grain yield is bigger when treating the transgenic glyphosate tolerant soybean variety.
  • the increase in both parameters is bigger than can be expected from the combination of the effect of the Fipronil treatment in the conventional variety shown here and the glyphosate tolerance trait.
  • Rice was grown in 2006 at Sinop, Mato Grosso, Brazil. The variety Primavera was planted at a row spacing of 45 cm. Plot size was 18 m 2 . Treatments were replicated 4 times.
  • Fipronil was applied as a seed treatment as the commercially available flowable concentrate (REGENT 250 FS) containing 250 g active ingredient per liter with a product rate of 150 and 200 ml per 100 kg of seed.
  • REGENT 250 FS commercially available flowable concentrate
  • Fipronil increased plant density which can be accounted for an improved crop emergence. It also indicates the insecticidal activity of the Fipronil seed treatment.
  • Plant density is bigger when treating an herbicide tolerant variety (ClearfieldTM) than in a conventional variety.
  • the increase that can be observed in the herbicide tolerant variety cannot be explained by the effects of the Fipronl treatment in a conventional rice variety and the herbicide tolerance and insect resistance traits alone.
  • Cotton was grown in 2005 at the Fazenda Santa Luzia in Sao Raimundo das Mangab, Maranhao, Brazil. The variety Delta Opal was planted with 10 seeds per m at row spacing of 90 cm. Plot size was 12 m 2 . Treatments were replicated 4 times.
  • Fipronil was applied as a seed treatment as the commercially available flowable concentrate (REGENT 250 FS) containing 250 g active ingredient per liter with a product rate of 300 ml per 100 kg of seed.
  • REGENT 250 FS commercially available flowable concentrate
  • Plant Density (Tab. V-3) was assessed 37 days after planting by counting the plants on an area of 9 m 2 . At the same time the root length was measured on 4 plants per plot (Tab. V-3).
  • the Fipronil treatment results in an increase in grain yield compared to the untreated control. Compared to the conventional variety the increase in yield in the herbicide tolerant, insect resistant variety is bigger than can be expected from the effects of the Fipronl treatment in the conventional variety Delta Opal and the herbicide tolerance and insect resistance (Bt) traits in the herbicide tolerant Bt variety on yield.
  • Fipronil increased plant density which can be accounted for an improved crop emergence and root length.

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  • Agronomy & Crop Science (AREA)
  • Plant Pathology (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Botany (AREA)
  • Developmental Biology & Embryology (AREA)
  • Agricultural Chemicals And Associated Chemicals (AREA)

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling pests or increasing the plant health in a cultivated plant comprising the application of a GABA-gated chloride channel antagonist to the plant with at least one modification, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials.

Description

Use of GABA-gated chloride channel antagonists on cultivated plants
Description
This application claims the priority benefit of application EP 08167218.0, filed 22 October 2008. The entire contents of each of the above-referenced applications is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a method for controlling pests and/or increasing the plant health in cultivated plants as compared to a corresponding control plant by comprising the application of a GABA-gated chloride channel antagonist (hereinafter referred to as "GABA") to the plant parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth, wherein the GABA is selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5- amino-1 -(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide.
One typical problem arising in the field of pest control lies in the need to reduce the dosage rates of the active ingredient in order to reduce or avoid unfavorable environmental or toxicological effects whilst still allowing effective pest control.
In regard to the instant invention the term pests embrace animal pests (such as insects, acarids or nematodes). The term animal pests include, but are not limited to the following genera and species:
insects from the order of the lepidopterans (Lepidoptera), for example Agrotis ypsilon, Agrotis segetum, Alabama argillacea, Anticarsia gemmatalis, Argyresthia conjugella, Autographa gamma, Bupalus piniarius, Cacoecia murinana, Capua reticulana, Cheima- tobia brumata, Choristoneura fumiferana, Choristoneura occidentalis, Cirphis unipuncta, Cydia pomonella, Dendrolimus pini, Diaphania nitidalis, Diatraea grand /- osella, Earias insulana, Elasmopalpus lignosellus, Eupoecilia ambiguella, Evetria bou- liana, Feltia subterranea, Galleria mellonella, Grapholitha funebrana, Grapholitha mo- lesta, Heliothis armigera, Heliothis virescens, Heliothis zea, HeIIuIa undalis, Hibemia defoliaria, Hyphantria cunea, Hyponomeuta malinellus, Keiferia lycopersicella, Lamb- dina fiscellaria, Laphygma exigua, Leucoptera coffeella, Leucoptera scitella, Lithocol- letis blancardella, Lobesia botrana, Loxostege sticticalis, Lymantria dispar, Lymantria monacha, Lyonetia clerkella, Malacosoma neustria, Mamestra brassicae, Orgyia pseu- dotsugata, Ostrinia nubilalis, Panolis flammea, Pectinophora gossypiella, Peridroma saucia, Phalera bucephala, Phthorimaea operculella, Phyllocnistis citrella, Pieris bras- sicae, Plathypena scabra, Plutella xylostella, Pseudoplusia includens, Rhyacionia frus- trana, Scrobipalpula absoluta, Sitotroga cerealella, Sparganothis pilleriana, Spodoptera frugiperda, Spodoptera littoralis, Spodoptera litura, Thaumatopoea pityocampa, Tortrix viridana, Trichoplusia ni and Zeiraphera canadensis, beetles {Coleoptera), for example Agrilus sinuatus, Agriotes lineatus, Agriotes obscu- rus, Amphimallus solstitial is, Anisaudrus dispar, Anthonomus grand is, Anthonomus pomorum, Aphthona euphoridae, Athous haemorrhoidalis, Atomaria linearis, Blasto- phagus piniperda, Blitophaga undata, Bruchus rufimanus, Bruchus pisorum, Bruchus lentis, Byctiscus betulae, Cassida nebulosa, Cerotoma trifurcata, Cetonia aurata, Ceuthorrhynchus assimilis, Ceuthorrhynchus napi, Chaetocnema tibialis, Conoderus vespertinus, Crioceris asparagi, Ctenicera ssp., Diabrotica Iongicornis, Diabrotica semipunctata, Diabrotica 12-punctata Diabrotica speciosa, Diabrotica virgifera, Epila- chna varivestis, Epitrix hirtipennis, Eutinobothrus brasiliensis, Hylobius abietis, Hypera brunneipennis, Hypera postica, lps typographus, Lema bilineata, Lema melanopus, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, Limonius californicus, Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus, Melanotus communis, Meligethes aeneus, Melolontha hippocastani, Melolontha melolontha, Oulema oryzae, Ortiorrhynchus sulcatus, Otiorrhynchus ovatus, Phaedon cochleariae, Phyllobius pyri, Phyllotreta chrysocephala, Phyllophaga sp., Phyllopertha horticola, Phyllotreta nemorum, Phyllotreta striolata, Popillia japonica, Sitona lineatus and Sito- philus granaria, flies, mosquitoes (Diptera), e.g. Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, Aedes vexans, An- astrepha ludens, Anopheles maculipennis, Anopheles crucians, Anopheles albimanus, Anopheles gambiae, Anopheles freebomi, Anopheles leucosphyrus, Anopheles minimus, Anopheles quadrimaculatus, Calliphora vicina, Ceratitis capitata, Chrysomya bezziana, Chrysomya hominivorax, Chrysomya macellaria, Chrysops discalis, Chrysops silacea, Chrysops atlanticus, Cochliomyia hominivorax, Contarinia sorghicola Cordylobia anthropophaga, Culicoides furens, Culex pipiens, Culex nigripalpus, Culex quinquefasciatus, Culex tarsalis, Culiseta inomata, Culiseta melanura, Dacus cucurbi- tae, Dacus oleae, Dasineura brassicae, Delia antique, Delia coarctata, Delia platura, Delia radicum, Dermatobia hominis, Fannia canicularis, Geomyza Tripunctata, Gaster- ophilus intestinalis, Glossina morsitans, Glossina palpalis, Glossina fuscipes, Glossina tachinoides, Haematobia irritans, Haplodiplosis equestris, Hippelates spp., Hylemyia platura, Hypoderma lineata, Leptoconops torrens, Liriomyza sativae, Liriomyza trifolii, Lucilia caprina, Lucilia cuprina, Lucilia sericata, Lycoria pectoralis, Mansonia titillanus, Mayetiola destructor, Musca domestica, Muscina stabulans, Oestrus ovis, Opomyza florum, Oscinella frit, Pegomya hysocyami, Phorbia antiqua, Phorbia brassicae, Phor- bia coarctata, Phlebotomus argentipes, Psorophora columbiae, Psila rosae, Psoro- phora discolor, Prosimulium mixtum, Rhagoletis cerasi, Rhagoletis pomonella, Sar- cophaga haemorrhoidalis, Sarcophaga sp., Simulium vittatum, Stomoxys calcitrans, Tabanus bovinus, Tabanus atratus, Tabanus IiGABAIa and Tabanus similis, Tipula oleracea and Tipula paludosa thrips (Thysanoptera), e.g. Dichromothrips corbetti, Dichromothrips ssp, Frankliniella fusca, Frankliniella occidentalis, Frankliniella tritici, Scirtothrips citri, Thrips oryzae, Thrips palmi and Thrips tabaci, termites (Isoptera), e.g. Calotermes flavicollis, Leucotermes flavipes, Heterotermes aureus, Reticulitermes flavipes, Reticulitermes virginicus, Reticulitermes lucifugus, Termes natalensis and Coptotermes formosanus, cockroaches (Blattaria - Blattodea), e.g. Blattella germanica, Blattella asahinae, Peri- planeta americana, Periplaneta japonica, Periplaneta brunnea, Periplaneta fuligginosa, Periplaneta australasiae and Blatta orientalis, true bugs (Hemiptera), e.g. Acrostemum hilare, Blissus leucopterus, Cyrtopeltis nota- tus, Dysdercus cingulatus, Dysdercus intermedius, Eurygaster integriceps, Euschistus impictiventris, Leptoglossus phyllopus, Lygus //GABA/ar/s, Lygus pratensis, Nezara viridula, Piesma quadrata, Solubea insularis, Thyanta perditor, Acyrthosiphon onobry- chis, Adelges lands, Aphidula nasturtii, Aphis fabae, Aphis forbesi, Aphis pomi, Aphis gossypii, Aphis grossulariae, Aphis schneideri, Aphis spiraecola, Aphis sambuci, Acyrthosiphon pisum, Aulacorthum solani, Bemisia argentifolii, Brachycaudus cardui, Bra- chycaudus helichrysi, Brachycaudus persicae, Brachycaudus prunicola, Brevicoryne brassicae, Capitophorus horni, Cerosipha gossypii, Chaetosiphon fragaefolii, Crypto- myzus ribis, Dreyfusia nordmannianae, Dreyfusia piceae, Dysaphis radicola, Dysaula- corthum pseudosolani, Dysaphis plantaginea, Dysaphis pyri, Empoasca fabae, Hyalop- terus pruni, Hyperomyzus lactucae, Macrosiphum avenae, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, Macrosiphon rosae, Megoura viciae, Melanaphis pyrarius, Metopolophium dirhodum, Myzus persicae, Myzus ascalonicus, Myzus cerasi, Myzus varians, Nasonovia ribis- nigri, Nilaparvata lugens, Pemphigus bursarius, Perkinsiella saccharicida, Phorodon humuli, Psylla mail, Psylla piri, Rhopalomyzus ascalonicus, Rhopalosiphum maidis, Rhopalosiphum padi, Rhopalosiphum insertum, Sappaphis mala, Sappaphis mail, Schizaphis graminum, Schizoneura lanuginosa, Sitobion avenae, Trialeurodes vapora- riorum, Toxoptera aurantiianύ, Viteus vitifolii, Cimex lectularius, Cimex hemipterus, Reduvius senilis, Triatoma spp. and Arilus critatus. ants, bees, wasps, sawflies (Hymenoptera), e.g. Athalia rosae, Atta cephalotes, Atta capiguara, Atta cephalotes, Atta laevigata, Atta robusta, Atta sexdens, Atta texana, Crematogasterspp., Hoplocampa minuta, Hoplocampa testudinea, Monomorium pha- raonis, Solenopsis geminata, Solenopsis invicta, Solenopsis richteri, Solenopsis xyloni, Pogonomyrmex barbatus, Pogonomyrmex californicus, Pheidole megacephala, Dasy- mutilla occidentalis, Bombus spp. Vespula squamosa, Paravespula vulgaris, Paraves- pula pennsylvanica, Paravespula germanica, Dolichovespula maculata, Vespa crabro, Polistes rubiginosa, Camponotus floridanus and Linepithema humile, crickets, grasshoppers, locusts (Orthoptera), e.g. Acheta domestica, Gryllotalpa gryllo- talpa, Locusta migratoria, Melanoplus bivittatus, Melanoplus femurrubrum, Melanoplus mexicanus, Melanoplus sanguinipes, Melanoplus spretus, Nomadacris septemfasciata, Schistocerca americana, Schistocerca gregaria, Dociostaurus maroccanus, Tachycines asynamorus, Oedaleus senegalensis, Zonozerus variegatus, Hieroglyphus daganensis, Kraussaria angulifera, Calliptamus italicus, Chortoicetes terminifera and Locustana pardalina, Arachnoidea, such as arachnids (Acarina), e.g. of the families Argasidae, Ixodidae and Sarcoptidae, such as Amblyomma americanum, Amblyomma variegatum, Ambryomma macu latum, Argas persicus, Boophilus annulatus, Boophilus decoloratus, Boophilus microplus, Dermacentor silvarum, Dermacentor audersoni, Dermacentor variabilis, Hyalomma truncatum, Ixodes ricinus, Ixodes rubicundus, Ixodes scapularis, Ixodes holocyclus, Ixodes pacificus, Omithodorus moubata, Omithodorus hermsi, Omithodo- rus turicata, Omithonyssus bacoti, Otobius megnini, Dermanyssus gallinae, Psoroptes ovis, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, Rhipicephalus evertsi, Sarcoptes scabiei and Eriophyidae spp. such as Aculus schlechtendali, Phyllocoptrata oleivora and Eήophyes sheldoni; Tarsonemidae spp. such as Phytonemus pallidus and Polyphagotarsonemus latus; Tenuipalpidae spp. such as Brevipalpus phoenicis; Tetra- nychidae spp. such as Tetranychus cinnabarinus, Tetranychus kanzawai, Tetranychus pacificus, Tetranychus telarius and Tetranychus urticae, Panonychus ulmi, Panony- chus citri and Oligonychus pratensis; Araneida, e.g. Latrodectus mactans and Loxosce- les reclusa, fleas (Siphonaptera), e.g. Ctenocephalides felis, Ctenocephalides canis, Xenopsylla cheopis, Pulex irritans, Tunga penetrans and Nosopsyllus fasciatus, silverfish, firebrat (Thysanura), e.g. Lepisma saccharina and Thermobia domestica, centipedes (Chilopoda), e.g. Scutigera coleoptrata, millipedes (Diplopoda), e.g. Narceus spp.,
Earwigs (DermapteraJ, e.g. forficula auricularia, lice (Phthiraptera), e.g. Pediculus humanus capitis, Pediculus humanus corporis, Pthi- rus pubis, Haematopinus eurystemus, Haematopinus suis, Linognathus vituli, Bovicola bovis, Menopon gallinae, Menacanthus stramineus and Solenopotes capillatus, plant parasitic nematodes such as root-knot nematodes, Meloidogyne arenaria, Meloi- dogyne chitwoodi, Meloidogyne exigua, Meloidogyne hapla, Meloidogyne incognita, Meloidogyne javanica and other Meloidogyne species; cyst nematodes, Globodera rostochiensis, Globodera pallida, Globodera tabacum and other Globodera species, Heterodera avenae, Heterodera glycines, Heterodera schachtii, Heterodera trifolii and other Heterodera species; seed gall nematodes, Anguina funesta, Anguina tritici and other Anguina species; stem and foliar nematodes, Aphelenchoides besseyi, Aphelen- choides fragariae, Aphelenchoides ritzemabosi and other Aphelenchoides species; sting nematodes, Belonolaimus longicaudatus and other Belonolaimus species; pine nematodes, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus and other Bursaphelenchus species; ring ne- matodes, Criconema species, Criconemella species, Criconemoides species and Me- socriconema species; stem and bulb nematodes, Ditylenchus destructor, Ditylenchus dipsaci, Ditylenchus myceliophagus and other Ditylenchus species; awl nematodes, Dolichodorus species; spiral nematodes, Helicotylenchus dihystera, Helicotylenchus multicinctus and other Helicotylenchus species, Rotylenchus robustus and other Roty- lenchus species; sheath nematodes, Hemicycliophora species and Hemicriconemoides species; Hirshmanniella species; lance nematodes, Hoplolaimus columbus, Hoplolai- mus galeatus and other Hoplolaimus species; false root-knot nematodes, Nacobbus aberrans and other Nacobbus species; needle nematodes, Longidorus elongates and other Longidorus species; pin nematodes, Paratylenchus species; lesion nematodes, Pratylenchus brachyurus, Pratylenchus coffeae, Pratylenchus curvitatus, Pratylenchus goodeyi, Pratylencus neglectus, Pratylenchus penetrans, Pratylenchus scribneri, Praty- lenchus vulnus, Pratylenchus zeae and other Pratylenchus species; Radinaphelenchus cocophilus and other Radinaphelenchus species; burrowing nematodes, Radopholus similis and other Radopholus species; reniform nematodes, Rotylenchulus reniformis and other Rotylenchulus species; Scutellonema species; stubby root nematodes, Th- chodorus primitivus and other Trichodorus species; Paratrichodorus minor and other Paratrichodorus species; stunt nematodes, Tylenchorhynchus claytoni, Tylenchorhyn- chus dubius and other Tylenchorhynchus species and Merlinius species; citrus nematodes, Tylenchulus semipenetrans and other Tylenchulus species; dagger nematodes, Xiphinema americanum, Xiphinema index, Xiphinema diversicaudatum and other Xi- phinema species; and other plant parasitic nematode species.
Another problem underlying the present invention is the desire for compositions that improve the health of a plant, a process which is commonly and hereinafter referred to as "plant health". The term plant health comprises various sorts of improvements of plants that are not connected to the control of pests and which do not embrace the re- duction of negative consequences of harmful insects. The term "plant health" is to be understood to denote a condition of the plant and/or its products which is determined by several indicators alone or in combination with each other such as yield (e.g. increased biomass and/or increased content of valuable ingredients), plant vigor (e.g. improved plant growth and/or greener leaves ("greening effect"), quality (e.g. improved content or composition of certain ingredients) and tolerance to abiotic and/or biotic stress. The above identified indicators for the health condition of a plant may be interdependent or may result from each other.
It was therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a method, which solves the problems as outlined above and which especially reduces the dosage rate and / or promotes the health of a plant.
Surprisingly, it has now been found that the use of GABA as defined above in cultivated plants displays a synergistic effect between the trait of the cultivated plant and the applied GABA.
Synergistic in the present context means that
a) the use of a GABA as defined above in combination with a cultivated plant exceeds the additive effect, to be expected on the pest to be controlled and thus extends the range of action of the GABA and of the active principle expressed by the cultivated planζ and/or b) such use results in an increased plant health effect in such cultivated plants compared to the plant health effects that are possible with the GABA, when applied to the non-cultivated plant; and/or c) the GABA induces "side effects" in the cultivated plant which increases plant health, as compared to the respective control plant, additionally to the primary mode of action, meaning the insecticidal activity; and/or d) the GABA induces "side effects" additionally to the primary mode of action, meaning the insecticidal activity in the control plant which are detrimental to the plant health compared to a control plant which is not treated with said compound. In combination with the cultivated plant these negative side effects are reduced, nullified or converted to an increase of the plant health of the cultivated plant compared to a cultivated plant not treated with said compound.
Thus, the term "synergistic", is to be understood in this context as synergistic insecti- cidal activity and/or the synergistic increase of plant health.
Especially, it has been found that the application of at least one GABA as defined above to cultivated plants leads to a synergistically enhanced action against harmful insects compared to the control rates that are possible with the GABA as defined above in non-cultivated plants and/or leads to an synergistic increase in the health of a plant when applied to a cultivated plant, parts of a plant, plant propagation material, or to their locus of growth.
Thus, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of a cultivated plant by treating a cultivated plant, parts of a plant, plant propagation material, or to their locus of growth with a GABA selected from the group consisting endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3- carbothioic acid amide, more preferably endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
The GABAs are known as insecticides. For instance, the commercially available compounds may be found in The Pesticide Manual, 13th Edition, British Crop Protection Council (2003) among other publications.
The term "plant propagation material" is to be understood to denote all the generative parts of a plant such as seeds and vegetative plant material such as cuttings and tubers (e.g. potatoes), which can be used for the multiplication of the plant. This includes seeds, roots, fruits, tubers, bulbs, rhizomes, shoots, sprouts and other parts of plants, including seedlings and young plants, which are to be transplanted after germination or after emergence from soil. These young plants may also be protected before transplan- tation by a total or partial treatment by immersion or pouring. Preferably, the term plant propagation material denotes seeds.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of a cultivated plant by treating plant propagation material, preferably seeds with a selected from endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4- methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
The present invention also comprises plant propagation material, preferably seed, of a cultivated plant treated with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl- phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
In another preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of a cultivated plant by treating the cultivated plant, part(s) of such plant or at its locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5- amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a composition comprising a pesticide and a cultivated plant or parts or cells thereof, wherein the pesticide is a GABA, preferably selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl- phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably with a GABA selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil. Said compositions may include other pesticides and other GABAs or several of the GABAs of the group described in the previous sentence. Said compositions may include substances used in plant protection, and in particular in formulation of plant protection products. The composition of the invention may comprise live plant material or plant material unable to propagate or both. The composition may contain plant material from more than one plant. In a preferred embodiment, the ratio of plant material from at least one cultivated plant to pesticide on a weight per weight basis is greater then 10 to 1 , preferably greater thani 00 to 1 or more preferably greater than 1000 to 1 , even more preferably greater than 10 000 to 1. In some cases a ratio of greater than 100000 or million to one is utmostly preferred.
In one embodiment, under "agricultural composition" is to be understood, that such a composition is in agreement with the laws regulating the content of fungicides, plant nutrients, herbicides etc. Preferably such a composition is without any harm to the protected plants and/or the animals (humans included) fed therewith.
In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a method for the production of an agricultural product comprising the application of a pesticide to cultivated plants with at least one modification, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth, and producing the agricultural product from said plants parts of such plants or plant propagation materials, wherein the pesticide is a GABA preferably selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, va- niliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4- sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide, more preferably with a GABA selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, most preferably fipronil.
In one embodiment of the invention the term "agricultural product" is defined as the output of the cultivation of the soil, for example grain, forage, fruit, fiber, flower, pollen, leaves, tuber, root, beet or seed.
In one embodiment of the invention the term "agricultural product" is defined according to USDA's (U.S. Department of Agriculture) definition of "agricultural products". Preferably under "agricultural product" are understood "food and fiber" products, which cover a broad range of goods from unprocessed bulk commodities like soybeans, feed corn, wheat, rice, and raw cotton to highly-processed, high-value foods and beverages like sausages, bakery goods, ice cream, beer and wine, and condiments sold in retail stores and restaurants. In one embodiment "agricultural product" are products found in Chapters 4, 6-15, 17-21 , 23-24, Chapter 33, and Chapter 52 of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule (from December 1993, occurred as a result of the Uruguay Round Agreements) based on the international Harmonized Commodity Coding and Classification System (Harmonized System) which has been established by the World Customs Organization). Agricultural products according to the inventionwithin these chapters preferably fall into the following categories: grains, animal feeds, and grain products (like bread and pasta); oilseeds and oilseed products (like soybean oil and olive oil); horticultural products including all fresh and processed fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, as well as nursery products, unmanufactured tobacco; and tropical products like sugar, cocoa and coffee. In one embodiment "agricultural product" is a product selected from the group of products as found in the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule under the items: 0409, 0601 to 0604, 0701 to 0714, 0801 to 0814, 0901 to 0910, 1001 to 1008, 1 101 to 1 109, 1201 to 1214, 1301 to 1302, 14 01 to 1404, 1507 to 1522, 1701 to 1704, 1801 to 1806, 1901 to 1905, 2001 to 2009, 2101 to 2106, 2302 to 2309, 2401 to 2403, 3301 , 5201 to 5203.
The term "cultivated plant(s)" refers to "modified plant(s)" and "transgenic plant(s)". In one embodiment of the invention, the term "cultivated plants" refers to "modified plants". In one embodiment of the invention, the term "cultivated plants" refers to "transgenic plants". "Modified plants" are those which have been modified by conventional breeding techniques. The term "modification" means in relation to modified plants a change in the genome, epigenome, transcriptome or proteome of the modified plant, as com- pared to the control, wild type, mother or parent plant whereby the modification confers a trait (or more than one trait) or confers the increase of a trait (or more than one trait) as listed below.
The modification may result in the modified plant to be a different, for example a new plant variety than the parental plant. "Transgenic plants" are those, which genetic material has been modified by the use of recombinant DNA techniques that under natural circumstances can not readily be obtained by cross breeding, mutations or natural recombination, whereby the modification confers a trait (or more than one trait) or confers the increase of a trait (or more than one trait) as listed below as compared to the wild-type plant. In one embodiment, one or more genes have been integrated into the genetic material of a genetically modified plant in order to improve certain properties of the plant, preferably increase a trait as listed below as compared to the wild-type plant. Such genetic modifications also include but are not limited to targeted post-translational modification of protein(s), or to post-transcriptional modifications of oligo- or polypeptides e.g. by glycosylation or polymer additions such as prenylated, acetylated, phosphorylated or farnesylated moieties or PEG moieties.
In one embodiment under the term "modification" when reffering to a transgenic plant or parts thereof is understood that the activity, expression level or amount of a gene product or the metabolite content is changed, e.g. increased or decreased, in a specific volume relative to a corresponding volume of a control, reference or wild-type plant or plant cell, including the de novo creation of the activity or expression.
In one embodiment the activity of a polypeptide is increased or generated by expression or overexpresion of the gene coding for said polypeptide which confers a trait or confers the increase of a trait as listed below as compared to the control plant. The term "expression" or "gene expression" means the transcription of a specific gene or specific genes or specific genetic construct. The term "expression" or "gene expression" in particular means the transcription of a gene or genes or genetic construct into structural RNA (rRNA, tRNA), regulatory RNA (e.g. miRNA, RNAi, RNAa) or mRNA with or without subsequent translation of the latter into a protein. In another embodiment the term "expression" or "gene expression" in particular means the transcription of a gene or genes or genetic construct into structural RNA (rRNA, tRNA) or mRNA with or without subsequent translation of the latter into a protein. In yet another embodiment it means the transcription of a gene or genes or genetic construct into mRNA. The process includes transcription of DNA and processing of the resulting mRNA product. The term "increased expression" or "overexpression" as used herein means any form of expression that is additional to the original wild-type expression level. The term "expression of a polypeptide" is understood in one embodiment to mean the level of said protein or polypeptide, preferably in an active form, in a cell or organism.
In one embodiment the activity of a polypeptide is decreased by decreased expression of the gene coding for said polypeptide which confers a trait or confers the increase of a trait as listed below as compared to the control plant. Reference herein to "decreased expression" or "reduction or substantial elimination" of expression is taken to mean a decrease in endogenous gene expression and/or polypeptide levels and/or polypeptide activity relative to control plants. It comprises further reducing, repressing, decreasing or deleting of an expression product of a nucleic acid molecule. The terms "reduction", "repression", "decrease" or "deletion" relate to a corresponding change of a property in an organism, a part of an organism such as a tissue, seed, root, tuber, fruit, leave, flower etc. or in a cell. Under "change of a property" it is understood that the activity, expression level or amount of a gene product or the metabolite content is changed in a specific volume or in a specific amount of protein relative to a corresponding volume or amount of protein of a control, reference or wild type. Preferably, the overall activity in the volume is reduced, decreased or deleted in cases if the reduction, decrease or deletion is related to the reduction, decrease or deletion of an activity of a gene product, independent whether the amount of gene product or the specific activity of the gene product or both is reduced, decreased or deleted or whether the amount, stability or translation efficacy of the nucleic acid sequence or gene encoding for the gene product is reduced, decreased or deleted.
The terms "reduction", "repression", "decrease" or "deletion" include the change of said property in only parts of the subject of the present invention, for example, the modification can be found in compartment of a cell, like an organelle, or in a part of a plant, like tissue, seed, root, leave, tuber, fruit, flower etc. but is not detectable if the overall subject, i.e. complete cell or plant, is tested. Preferably, the "reduction", "repression", "decrease" or "deletion" is found cellular, thus the term "reduction, decrease or deletion of an activity" or "reduction, decrease or deletion of a metabolite content" relates to the cellular reduction, decrease or deletion compared to the wild type cell. In addition the terms "reduction", "repression", "decrease" or "deletion" include the change of said property only during different growth phases of the organism used in the inventive process, for example the reduction, repression, decrease or deletion takes place only during the seed growth or during blooming. Furthermore the terms include a transitional reduction, decrease or deletion for example because the used method, e.g. the an- tisense, RNAi, snRNA, dsRNA, siRNA, miRNA, ta-siRNA, cosuppression molecule, or ribozyme, is not stable integrated in the genome of the organism or the reduction, decrease, repression or deletion is under control of a regulatory or inducible element, e.g. a chemical or otherwise inducible promoter, and has therefore only a transient effect. Methods to achieve said reduction, decrease or deletion in an expression product are known in the art, for example from the international patent application WO 2008/034648, particularly in paragraphs [0020.1.1.1], [0040.1.1.1], [0040.2.1.1] and [0041.1.1.1].
Reducing, repressing, decreasing or deleting of an expression product of a nucleic acid molecule in modified plants is known. Examples are canola i.e. double nill oilseed rape with reduced amounts of erucic acid and sinapins.
Such a decrease can also be achieved for example by the use of recombinant DNA technology, such as antisense or regulatory RNA (e.g. miRNA, RNAi, RNAa) or siRNA approaches. In particular RNAi, snRNA, dsRNA, siRNA, miRNA, ta-siRNA, cosuppres- sion molecule, ribozyme, or antisense nucleic acid molecule, a nucleic acid molecule conferring the expression of a dominant-negative mutant of a protein or a nucleic acid construct capable to recombine with and silence, inactivate, repress or reduces the activity of an endogenous gene may be used to decrease the activity of a polypeptide in a transgenic plant or parts thereof or a plant cell thereof used in one embodiment of the methods of the invention. Examples of transgenic plants with reduced, repressed, decreased or deleted expression product of a nucleic acid molecule are Carica papaya (Papaya plants) with the event name X17-2 of the University of Florida, Prunus domes- tica (Plum) with the event name C5 of the United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service, or those listed in rows T9-48 and T9-49 of table 9 below. Also known are plants with increased resistance to nematodes for example by reducing, repressing, decreasing or deleting of an expression product of a nucleic acid molecule, e.g. from the PCT publication WO 2008/095886.
The reduction or substantial elimination is in increasing order of preference at least 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% or 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more reduced compared to that of control plants. Reference herein to an "en- dogenous" gene not only refers to the gene in question as found in a plant in its natural form (i.e., without there being any human intervention), but also refers to that same gene (or a substantially homologous nucleic acid/gene) in an isolated form subsequently (re)introduced into a plant (a transgene). For example, a transgenic plant containing such a transgene may encounter a substantial reduction of the transgene ex- pression and/or substantial reduction of expression of the endogenous gene.
The terms "control" or "reference" are exchangeable and can be a cell or a part of a plant such as an organelle like a chloroplast or a tissue, in particular a plant, which was not modified or treated according to the herein described process according to the invention. Accordingly, the plant used as control or reference corresponds to the plant as much as possible and is as identical to the subject matter of the invention as possible. Thus, the control or reference is treated identically or as identical as possible, saying that only conditions or properties might be different which do not influence the quality of the tested property other than the treatment of the present invention.
It is possible that control or reference plants are wild-type plants. However, "control" or "reference" may refer to plants carrying at least one genetic modification, when the plants employed in the process of the present invention carry at least one genetic modification more than said control or reference plants. In one embodiment control or reference plants may be transgenic but differ from transgenic plants employed in the process of the present invention only by said modification contained in the transgenic plants employed in the process of the present invention.
The term "wild type" or "wild-type plants" refers to a plant without said genetic modification. These terms can refer to a cell or a part of a plant such as an organelle like a chloroplast or a tissue, in particular a plant, which lacks said genetic modification but is otherwise as identical as possible to the plants with at least one genetic modification employed in the present invention. In a particular embodiment the "wild-type" plant is not transgenic.
Preferably, the wild type is identically treated according to the herein described process according to the invention. The person skilled in the art will recognize if wild-type plants will not require certain treatments in advance to the process of the present invention, e.g. non-transgenic wild-type plants will not need selection for transgenic plants for example by treatment with a selecting agent such as a herbicide.
The control plant may also be a nullizygote of the plant to be assessed. The term "nul- lizygotes" refers to a plant that has undergone the same production process as a transgenic, yet has not acquired the same genetic modification as the corresponding transgenic. If the starting material of said production process is transgenic, then nul- lizygotes are also transgenic but lack the additional genetic modification introduced by the production process. In the process of the present invention the purpose of wild-type and nullizygotes is the same as the one for control and reference or parts thereof. All of these serve as controls in any comparison to provide evidence of the advantageous effect of the present invention.
Preferably, any comparison is carried out under analogous conditions. The term "analogous conditions" means that all conditions such as, for example, culture or growing conditions, soil, nutrient, water content of the soil, temperature, humidity or surrounding air or soil, assay conditions (such as buffer composition, temperature, sub- strates, pathogen strain, concentrations and the like) are kept identical between the experiments to be compared. The person skilled in the art will recognize if wild-type, control or reference plants will not require certain treatments in advance to the process of the present invention, e.g. non-transgenic wild-type plants will not need selection for transgenic plants for example by treatment with herbicide. In case that the conditions are not analogous the results can be normalized or standardized based on the control.
The "reference", "control", or "wild type" is preferably a plant, which was not modified or treated according to the herein described process of the invention and is in any other property as similar to a plant, employed in the process of the present invention of the invention as possible. The reference, control or wild type is in its genome, transcrip- tome, proteome or metabolome as similar as possible to a plant, employed in the process of the present invention of the present invention. Preferably, the term "reference-" "control-" or "wild-type-" plant, relates to a plant, which is nearly genetically identical to the organelle, cell, tissue or organism, in particular plant, of the present invention or a part thereof preferably 90% or more, e.g. 95%, more preferred are 98%, even more preferred are 99,00%, in particular 99,10%, 99,30%, 99,50%, 99,70%, 99,90%, 99,99%, 99,999% or more. Most preferable the "reference", "control", or "wild type" is a plant, which is genetically identical to the plant, cell, a tissue or organelle used according to the process of the invention except that the responsible or activity conferring nu- cleic acid molecules or the gene product encoded by them have been amended, manipulated, exchanged or introduced in the organelle, cell, tissue, plant, employed in the process of the present invention.
Preferably, the reference and the subject matter of the invention are compared after standardization and normalization, e.g. to the amount of total RNA, DNA, or protein or activity or expression of reference genes, like housekeeping genes, such as ubiquitin, actin or ribosomal proteins.
The genetic modification carried in the organelle, cell, tissue, in particular plant used in the process of the present invention is in one embodiment stable e.g. due to a stable transgenic expression or to a stable mutation in the corresponding endogenous gene or to a modulation of the expression or of the behaviour of a gene, or transient, e.g. due to an transient transformation or temporary addition of a modulator such as an agonist or antagonist or inducible, e.g. after transformation with a inducible construct carrying a nucleic acid molecule under control of a inducible promoter and adding the inducer, e.g. tetracycline.
In one embodiment preferred plants, from which "modified plants" and/or "transgenic plants" are be selected from the group consisting of cereals, such as maize (corn), wheat, barley sorghum, rice, rye, millet, triticale, oat, pseudocereals (such as buckwheat and quinoa), alfalfa, apples, banana, beet, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, canola (rapeseed), carrot, cauliflower, cherries, chickpea, Chinese cabbage, Chinese mustard, collard, cotton, cranberries, creeping bentgrass, cucumber, eggplant, flax, grape, grapefruit, kale, kiwi, kohlrabi, melon, mizuna, mustard, papaya, peanut, pears, pepper, persimmons, pigeonpea, pineapple, plum, potato, raspberry, rutabaga, soybean, squash, strawberries, sugar beet, sugarcane, sunflower, sweet corn, tobacco, tomato, turnip, walnut, watermelon and winter squash, more preferably from the group consisting of alfalfa, canola (rapeseed), cotton, rice, maize, cerals (such as wheat, barley, rye, oat), soybean, fruits and vegetables (such as potato, tomato, melon, papaya), pome fruits (such as apple and pear), vine, sugarbeet, sugarcane, rape, citrus fruits (such as citron, lime, orange, pomelo, grapefruit, and mandarin) and stone fruits (such as cherry, apricot and peach), most preferably from cotton, rice, maize, cerals (such as wheat, barley, rye, oat), sorghum, squash, soy- bean, potato, vine, pome fruits (such as apple), citrus fruits (such as citron and orange), sugarbeet, sugarcane, rape, oilseed rape and tomatoes,, utmost preferably from cotton, rice, maize, wheat, barley, rye, oat, soybean, potato, vine, apple, pear, citron and orange.
In another embodiment of the invention the cultivated plant is a gymnosperm plant, especially a spruce, pine or fir.
In one embodiment, the cultivated plant is selected from the families Aceraceae, Ana- cardiaceae, Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Cactaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphor- biaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Nymphaeaceae, Papaveraceae, Rosaceae, Salica- ceae, Solanaceae, Arecaceae, Bromeliaceae, Cyperaceae, Iridaceae, Liliaceae, Orchi- daceae, Gentianaceae, Labiaceae, Magnoliaceae, Ranunculaceae, Carifolaceae, Rubiaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Ericaceae, Polygonaceae, Violaceae, Juncaceae or Poaceae and preferably from a plant selected from the group of the fami- lies Apiaceae, As-teraceae, Brassicaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, Papaveraceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae, Liliaceae or Poaceae.
Preferred are crop plants and in particular plants selected from the families and genera mentioned above for example preferred the species Anacardium occidentale, Calendula officinalis, Carthamus tinctorius, Cichorium intybus, Cynara scolymus, Helianthus annus, Tagetes lucida, Tagetes erecta, Tagetes tenuifolia; Daucus carota; Corylus a ve liana, Corylus col u ma, Bora go officinalis; Brassica napus, Brassica rapa ssp., Sinapis arvensis Brassica juncea, Brassica juncea var. juncea, Brassica juncea var. crispifolia, Brassica juncea var. foliosa, Brassica nigra, Brassica sinapioides, Melanos- inapis communis, Brassica oleracea, Arabidopsis thaliana, Anana comosus, Ananas ananas, Bromelia comosa, Carica papaya, Cannabis sative, lpomoea batatus, Ipo- moea pandurata, Convolvulus batatas, Convolvulus tiliaceus, lpomoea fas-tigiata, lpomoea tiliacea, lpomoea triloba, Convolvulus panduratus, Beta vulgaris, Beta vul-garis var. altissima, Beta vulgaris var. vulgaris, Beta maritima, Beta vulgaris var. perennis, Beta vulgaris var. conditiva, Beta vulgaris var. esculenta, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita moschata, Olea europaea, Manihot utilissima, Jani- pha manihot,, Jatropha manihot, Manihot aipil, Manihot dulcis, Manihot manihot, Manihot melanobasis, Manihot esculenta, Ricinus communis, Pisum sativum, Pisum arvense, Pisum humile, Medicago sativa, Medicago falcata, Medicago varia, Glycine max Dolichos soja, Glycine gracilis, Glycine hispida, Phaseolus max, Soja hispida, Soja max, Cocos nucifera, Pelargonium grossularioides, Oleum cocoas, Laurus nobilis, Persea americana, Arachis hypogaea, Linum usitatissimum, Linum humile, Linum aus- triacum, Linum bienne, Linum angustifolium, Linum catharticum, Linum flavum, Linum grandiflorum, Adenolinum grandiflo-rum, Linum lewisii, Linum narbonense, Linum per- enne, Linum perenne var. lewisii, Linum pratense, Linum trigynum, Punica granatum, Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium arboreum, Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium her- baceum, Gossypium thurberi, Musa nana, Musa acuminata, Musa paradisiaca, Musa spp., Elaeis guineensis, Papaver orientale, Papaver rhoeas, Papaver dubium, Sesamum indicum, Piper aduncum, Piper amalago, Piper angus-tifolium, Piper auri- tum, Piper betel, Piper cubeba, Piper longum, Piper nigrum, Piper ret-rofractum, Artan- the adunca, Artanthe elongata, Peperomia elongata, Piper elongatum, Steffensia elon- gata,, Hordeum vulgare, Hordeum jubatum, Hordeum murinum, Hordeum secalinum, Hordeum distichon Hordeum aegiceras, Hordeum hexastichon, Hordeum hexa- stichum, Hordeum irregulare, Hordeum sativum, Hordeum secalinum, Avena sativa, Avena fatua, Avena byzantina, Avena fatua var. sativa, Avena hybrida, Sorghum bi- color, Sorghum halepense, Sorghum saccharatum, Sorghum vulgare, Andropogon drummondii, Holcus bi-color, Holcus sorghum, Sorghum aethiopicum, Sorghum arun- dinaceum, Sorghum caf-frorum, Sorghum cernuum, Sorghum dochna, Sorghum drummondii, Sorghum durra, Sor-ghum guineense, Sorghum lanceolatum, Sorghum nervosum, Sorghum saccharatum, Sorghum subglabrescens, Sorghum verticilliflorum, Sorghum vulgare, Holcus halepensis, Sorghum miliaceum millet, Panicum militaceum, Zea mays, Triticum aestivum, Triticum durum, Triticum turgidum, Triticum hybernum, Triticum macha, Triticum sativum or Triticum vulgare, Cofea spp., Coffea arabica, Cof- fea canephora, Coffea liberica, Capsicum annuum, Capsi-cum annuum var. glabriuscu- lum, Capsicum frutescens, Capsicum annuum, Nicotiana tabacum, Solanum tuberosum, Solanum melongena, Lycopersicon esculentum, Lycopersicon lycopersicum, Ly- copersicon pyriforme, Solanum integri folium, Solanum lycopersicum Theobroma cacao and Camellia sinensis.
Anacardiaceae such as the genera Pistacia, Mangifera, Anacardium e.g. the species Pistacia vera [pistachios, Pistazie], Mangifer indica [Mango] or Anacardium occi- dentale [Cashew], Asteraceae such as the genera Calendula, Carthamus, Centaurea, Cichorium, Cynara, Helianthus, Lactuca, Locusta, Tagetes, Valeriana e.g. the species Calendula officinalis [Marigold], Carthamus tinctorius [safflower], Centaurea cyanus [corn-flower], Cichorium intybus [blue daisy], Cynara scolymus [Artichoke], Helianthus annus [sunflower], Lactuca sativa, Lactuca crispa, Lactuca esculenta, Lactuca scariola L. ssp. sativa, Lactuca scariola L. var. integrata, Lactuca scariola L. var. integrifolia, Lactuca sativa subsp. romana, Locusta communis, Valeriana locusta [lettuce], Tagetes lucida, Tagetes erecta or Tagetes tenuifolia [Marigold]; Apiaceae such as the genera Daucus e.g. the species Daucus carota [carrot]; Betulaceae such as the genera Cory- lus e.g. the species Corylus avellana or Corylus colurna [hazelnut]; Boraginaceae such as the genera Borago e.g. the species Borago officinalis [borage]; Brassicaceae such as the genera Brassica, Melanosinapis, Sinapis, Arabadopsis e.g. the species Brassica napus, Brassica rapa ssp. [canola, oilseed rape, turnip rape], Sinapis arvensis Brassica juncea, Brassica juncea var. juncea, Brassica juncea var. crispifolia, Brassica juncea var. foliosa, Brassica nigra, Brassica sinapioides, Melanosinapis communis [mustard], Brassica oleracea [fodder beet] or Arabidopsis thaliana; Bromeliaceae such as the genera Anana, Bromelia e.g. the species Anana comosus, Ananas ananas or Bromelia comosa [pineapple]; Caricaceae such as the genera Carica e.g. the species Carica papaya [papaya]; Cannabaceae such as the genera Cannabis e.g. the species Cannabis sative [hemp], Convolvulaceae such as the genera Ipomea, Convolvulus e.g. the species lpomoea batatus, lpomoea pandurata, Convolvulus batatas, Convolvulus tili- aceus, lpomoea fastigiata, lpomoea tiliacea, lpomoea triloba or Convolvulus pandura- tus [sweet potato, Man of the Earth, wild potato], Chenopodiaceae such as the genera Beta, i.e. the species Beta vulgaris, Beta vulgaris var. altissima, Beta vulgaris var. VuI- garis, Beta maritima, Beta vulgaris var. perennis, Beta vulgaris var. conditiva or Beta vulgaris var. esculenta [sugar beet]; Cucurbitaceae such as the genera Cucubita e.g. the species Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita pepo or Cucurbita mo- schata [pumpkin, squash]; Elaeagnaceae such as the genera Elaeagnus e.g. the species Olea europaea [olive]; Ericaceae such as the genera Kalmia e.g. the species KaI- mia latifolia, Kalmia angustifolia, Kalmia microphylla, Kalmia polifolia, Kalmia occiden- talis, Cistus chamaerhodendros or Kalmia lucida [American laurel, broad-leafed laurel, calico bush, spoon wood, sheep laurel, alpine laurel, bog laurel, western bog-laurel, swamp-laurel]; Euphorbiaceae such as the genera Manihot, Janipha, Jatropha, Ricinus e.g. the species Manihot utilissima, Janipha manihot,, Jatropha manihot, Manihot aipil, Manihot dulcis, Manihot manihot, Manihot melanobasis, Manihot esculenta [manihot, arrowroot, tapioca, cassava] or Ricinus communis [castor bean, Castor Oil Bush, Castor Oil Plant, Palma Christi, Wonder Tree]; Fabaceae such as the genera Pisum, Al- bizia, Cathormion, Feuillea, Inga, Pithecolobium, Acacia, Mimosa, Medicajo, Glycine, Dolichos, Phaseolus, Soja e.g. the species Pisum sativum, Pisum arvense, Pisum hu- mile [pea], Albizia berteriana, Albizia julibrissin, Albizia lebbeck, Acacia berteriana,
Acacia littoralis, Albizia berteriana, Albizzia berteriana, Cathormion berteriana, Feuillea berteriana, Inga fragrans, Pithecellobium berterianum, Pithecellobium fragrans, Pithecolobium berterianum, Pseudalbizzia berteriana, Acacia julibrissin, Acacia nemu, Albizia nemu, Feuilleea julibrissin, Mimosa julibrissin, Mimosa speciosa, Sericanrda julibrissin, Acacia lebbeck, Acacia macrophylla, Albizia lebbek, Feuilleea lebbeck, Mimosa lebbeck, Mimosa speciosa [bastard logwood, silk tree, East Indian Walnut], Medicago sativa, Medicago falcata, Medicago varia [alfalfa] Glycine max Dolichos soja, Glycine gracilis, Glycine hispida, Phaseolus max, Soja hispida or Soja max [soy-bean]; Geraniaceae such as the genera Pelargonium, Cocos, Oleum e.g. the species Cocos nucifera, Pelargonium grossularioides or Oleum cocois [coconut]; Gramineae such as the genera Saccharum e.g. the species Saccharum officinarum; Juglandaceae such as the genera Juglans, WaIHa e.g. the species Juglans regia, Juglans ailanthifolia, Juglans sie-boldiana, Juglans cinerea, WaIHa cinerea, Juglans bixbyi, Juglans califomica, Juglans hind-sii, Juglans intermedia, Juglans jamaicensis, Juglans major, Juglans micro- carpa, Juglans nigra or WaIHa nigra [walnut, black walnut, common walnut, persian walnut, white walnut, butternut, black walnut]; Lauraceae such as the genera Persea, Laurus e.g. the species laurel Laurus nobilis [bay, laurel, bay laurel, sweet bay], Persea americana, Persea gratissima or Persea persea [avocado]; Leguminosae such as the genera Arachis e.g. the species Arachis hypogaea [peanut]; Linaceae such as the genera Linum, Adenolinum e.g. the species Linum usitatissimum, Linum humile, Linum austriacum, Linum bienne, Linum angustifolium, Linum catharticum, Linum flavum, Linum grandiflorum, Adeno-linum grandiflorum, Linum lewisii, Linum narbonense, Linum perenne, Linum perenne var. lewisii, Linum pratense or Linum trigynum [flax, linseed]; Lythrarieae such as the genera Punica e.g. the species Punica granatum [pomegranate]; Malvaceae such as the genera Gossypium e.g. the species Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium arboreum, Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium herbaceum or Gossypium thurberi [cotton]; Musaceae such as the genera Musa e.g. the species Musa nana, Musa acuminata, Musa paradisiaca, Musa spp. [banana]; Onagraceae such as the genera Camissonia, Oenothera e.g. the species Oeno-thera biennis or Camissonia brevipes [primrose, evening primrose]; Palmae such as the genera Elacis e.g. the species Elaeis guineensis [oil plam]; Papaveraceae such as the genera Pa- paver e.g. the species Papaver orientate, Papaver rhoeas, Papaver dubium [poppy, oriental poppy, corn poppy, field poppy, shirley poppies, field poppy, long-headed poppy, long-pod poppy]; Pedaliaceae such as the genera Sesamum e.g. the species Sesamum indicum [sesame]; Piperaceae such as the genera Piper, Artanthe, Pep- eromia, Steffensia e.g. the species Piper aduncum, Piper amalago, Piper angusti- folium, Piper auritum, Piper betel, Piper cubeba, Piper longum, Piper nigrum, Piper retrofractum, Artanthe adunca, Ar-tanthe elongata, Peperomia elongata, Piper elonga- tum, Steffensia elongata. [Cayenne pepper, wild pepper]; Poaceae such as the genera Hordeum, Secale, Avena, Sorghum, Andropogon, Holcus, Panicum, Oryza, Zea, Triti- cum e.g. the species Hordeum vulgare, Hordeum jubatum, Hordeum murinum, Hor- deum secalinum, Hordeum distichon Hordeum aegiceras, Hordeum hexastichon., Hordeum hexastichum, Hordeum irregulare, Hordeum sativum, Hordeum secalinum [barley, pearl barley, foxtail barley, wall barley, meadow bar-ley], Secale cereale [rye], Avena sativa, Avena fatua, Avena byzantina, Avena fatua var. sativa, Avena hybrida [oat], Sorghum bicolor, Sorghum halepense, Sorghum saccharatum, Sorghum vulgare, Andropogon drummondii, Holcus bicolor, Holcus sorghum, Sorghum aethiopicum, Sorghum arundinaceum, Sorghum caffrorum, Sorghum cernuum, Sorghum dochna, Sorghum drummondii, Sorghum durra, Sorghum guineense, Sorghum lanceola-tum, Sorghum nervosum, Sorghum saccharatum, Sorghum subglabrescens, Sorghum ver- ticilliflorum, Sorghum vulgare, Holcus halepensis, Sorghum miliaceum millet, Panicum mili-taceum [Sorghum, millet], Oryza sativa, Oryza latifolia [rice], Zea mays [corn, maize] Triticum aestivum, Triticum durum, Triticum turgidum, Triticum hybernum, Triti- cum macha, Triti-cum sativum or Triticum vulgare [wheat, bread wheat, common wheat], Proteaceae such as the genera Macadamia e.g. the species Macadamia inter- grifolia [macadamia]; Rubiaceae such as the genera Coffea e.g. the species Cofea spp., Coffea arabica, Coffea canephora or Coffea liberica [coffee]; Scrophulariaceae such as the genera Verbascum e.g. the species Verbascum blattaria, Verbascum chaixii, Verbascum densiflorum, Verbascum lagurus, Verbascum longifolium, Verbascum lychnitis, Verbascum nigrum, Verbascum olympicum, Verbascum phlomoides, Verbascum phoenicum, Verbascum pulverulentum or Verbascum thapsus [mullein, white moth mullein, nettle-leaved mullein, dense-flowered mullein, silver mullein, long- leaved mullein, white mullein, dark mullein, greek mullein, orange mullein, purple mullein, hoary mullein, great mullein]; Solanaceae such as the genera Capsicum, Nico- tiana, Solarium, Lycopersicon e.g. the species Capsicum annuum, Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum, Capsicum frutescens [pepper], Capsicum annuum [paprika], Nico- tiana tabacum, Nicotiana alata, Nicotiana attenuata, Nicotiana glauca, Nicotiana langsdorffii, Nicotiana obtusifolia, Nicotiana quadrivalvis, Nicotiana repanda, Nicotiana rustica, Nicotiana sylvestris [tobacco], Solanum tuberosum [potato], Solanum melon- gena [egg-plant], Lycopersicon esculentum, Lycopersicon lycopersicum., Lycopersicon pyriforme, Solanum in-tegrifolium or Solanum lycopersicum [tomato]; Sterculiaceae such as the genera Theobroma e.g. the species Theobroma cacao [cacao]; Theaceae such as the genera Camellia e.g. the species Camellia sinensis [tea]. In one embodiment, the cultivated plant is selected from the superfamily Viridiplantae, in particular monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants including fodder or forage legumes, ornamental plants, food crops, trees or shrubs selected from the list comprising Acer spp., Actinidia spp., Abelmoschus spp., Agave sisalana, Agropyron spp., Agrostis stolonifera, Allium spp., Amaranthus spp., Ammophila arenaria, Annona spp., Apium graveolens, Arachis spp, Artocarpus spp., Asparagus officinalis, Avena spp., Averrhoa carambola, Bambusa sp., Benincasa hispida, Bertholletia excelsea, Beta vulgaris, Brassica spp. Cadaba farinosa, Canna indica, Capsicum spp., Carex elata, Carissa macrocarpa, Carya spp., Castanea spp., Ceiba pentandra, Cichorium endivia, Cinnamomum spp., Citrullus lanatus, Citrus spp., Cocos spp., Coffea spp., Colocasia esculenta, Cola spp., Corchorus sp., Coriandrum sativum, Crataegus spp., Crocus sa- tivus, Cucurbita spp., Cucumis spp., Cynara spp., Daucus carota, Desmodium spp., Dimocarpus longan, Dioscorea spp., Diospyros spp., Echinochloa spp., Elaeis (e.g. Elaeis oleifera), Eleusine coracana, Eragrostis tef, Erianthus sp., Eriobotrya japonica, Eucalyptus sp., Eugenia uniflora, Fagopyrum spp., Fagus spp., Festuca arundinacea, Ficus carica, Fortunella spp., Fragaria spp., Ginkgo biloba, Glycine spp. (e.g. Glycine max, Soja hispida or Soja max), Hemerocallis fulva, Hibiscus spp., Hordeum spp., Lathyrus spp., Lens culinaris, Litchi chinensis, Lotus spp., Luff a acutangula, Lupinus spp., Luzula sylvatica, Lycopersicon spp. Macrotyloma spp., Malus spp., Malpighia emarginata, Mammea americana, Manilkara zapota, Medicago sativa, Melilotus spp., Mentha spp., Miscanthus sinensis, Momordica spp., Morus nigra, Musa spp., Nicotiana spp., Olea spp., Opuntia spp., Omithopus spp., Oryza spp, Panicum virgatum, Passi- flora edulis, Pastinaca sativa, Pennisetum sp., Persea spp., Petroselinum crispum, Phalaris arundinacea, Phaseolus spp., Phleum pratense, Phoenix spp., Phragmites australis, Physalis spp., Pinus spp., Pisum spp., Poa spp., Populus spp., Prosopis spp., Prunus spp., Psidium spp., Py/x/s communis, Quercus spp., Raphanus sativus, Rheum rhabarbarum, Ribes spp., Rubus spp., Saccharum spp., Salix sp., Sambucus spp., Secale cereale, Sesamum spp., Sinapis sp., Solanum spp., Spinacia spp., Syzygium spp., Tagefes spp., Tamarindus indica, Theobroma cacao, Trifolium spp., Tripsacum dactyloides, Triticosecale rimpaui, Triticum spp. (e.g. Triticum monococcum), Tropaeo- /um minus, Tropaeolum majus, Vaccinium spp., V/c/a spp., Wgna spp., Wo/a odorata, Vitis spp., Zizania palustris, Ziziphus spp., amongst others. The cultivated plants are plants, which comprise at least one trait. The term "trait" refers to a property, which is present in the plant either by genetic engineering or by conventional breeding techniques. Each trait has to be assessed in relation to its respective control. Examples of traits are: • herbicide tolerance,
• insect resistance by expression of bacterial toxins,
• fungal resistance or viral resistance or bacterial resistance,
• antibiotic resistance,
• stress tolerance, • maturation alteration,
• content modification of chemicals present in the cultivated plant, preferably increasing the content of fine chemicals advantageous for applications in the field of the food and/or feed industry, the cosmetics industry and/or the pharmaceutical industry, • modified nutrient uptake, preferably an increased nutrient use efficiency and/or resistance to conditions of nutrient deficiency,
• improved fiber quality,
• plant vigor,
• modified colour, • fertility restoration, and male sterility.
Principally, cultivated plants may also comprise combinations of the aforementioned traits, e.g. they may be tolerant to the action of herbicides and express bacertial toxins.
Principally, all cultivated plants may also provide combinations of the aforementioned properties, e.g. they may be tolerant to the action of herbicides and express bacertial toxins.
In the detailed description below, the term "plant" refers to a cultivated plant.
In one embodiment of the invention, the term "increased plant health" means an increase, as compared to the respective control, in a trait selected from the group consisting of: yield (e.g. increased biomass and/or seed yield), plant vigor (e. g. improved plant growth and/or early vigour and/or "greening effect", meaning greener leaves, preferably leaves with a higher greenness index), early vigour, greening effect (preservation of green surface of a leaf), quality (e. g. improved content or composition of certain ingredients), tolerance to environmental stress, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, fungal resistance or viral resistance or bacterial resistance, antibiotic resistance, content of fine chemicals advantageous for applications in the field of the food and/or feed industry, the cosmetics industry or the pharmaceutical industry, nutrient use efficiency, nutrient use uptake, fiber quality, color,and male sterility and/or "increased plant health" is to be understood as an alteration or modification, compared to the respective control, in a trait selected from the group consisting of maturation, fertility restoration and color.
"Plant health" is defined as a condition of the plant which is determined by several as- pects alone or in combination with each other. One indicator for the condition of the plant is its "yield".
So, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the term "increased plant health" means an increase in yield as compared to the respective control.
In one embodiment, term "increased plant health" means any combination of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or more of the above mentioned traits.
In one embodiment of the invention, the term "increased plant health" means that the same effect as in the control plant can be achieved in the cultivated plant by reduced application rates and/or reduced application dosages.
The term "yield" in general means a measurable produce of economic value, typically related to a specified crop, to an area, and to a period of time. Individual plant parts directly contribute to yield based on their number, size and/or weight, or the actual yield is the yield per square meter for a crop and year, which is determined by dividing total production (includes both harvested and appraised production) by planted square meters. The term "yield" of a plant may relate to vegetative biomass (root and/or shoot biomass), to reproductive organs, and/or to propagules (such as seeds) of that plant. In one embodiment yield is to be understood as any plant product of economic value that is produced by the plant such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, seeds, wood or even flowers. The plant products may in addition be further utilized and/or processed after harvesting. According to the present invention, "increased yield" of a plant, in particular of an agricultural, horticultural, silvicultural and/or ornamental plant means that the yield of a product of the respective plant is increased by a measurable amount over the yield of the same product of the control plant produced under the same conditions. In one embodiment of the invention increased yield is characterized, among others, by the following improved properties of the plant and/or its products compared with a control, such as increased weight, increased height, increased biomass such as higher overall fresh weight, higher grain yield, more tillers, larger leaves, increased shoot growth, increased protein content, increased oil content, increased starch content and/or increased pigment content. Another indicator for the condition of the plant is its "plant vigor".
According to the present invention, "increased plant vigor" of a plant, in particular of an agricultural, horticultural, silvicultural and/or ornamental plant means that the vigor of a plant is increased by a measurable amount over the vigor of the control plant under the same conditions. In one embodiment of the invention the plant vigor becomes manifest in at least one aspects selected from the group consisting of improved vitality of the plant, improved plant growth, improved plant development, improved visual appearance, improved plant stand (less plant verse/lodging), better harvestability, improved emergence, enhanced nodulation in particular rhizobial nodulation, bigger size, bigger leaf blade, in- creased plant weight, increased plant height, increased tiller number, increased shoot growth, increased root growth (extensive root system), increased yield when grown on poor soils or unfavorable climate, enhanced photosynthetic activity, enhanced pigment content (for example chlorophyll content), earlier flowering, shorter flowering period, earlier fruiting, earlier and improved germination, earlier grain maturity, improved self- defence mechanisms, improved stress tolerance and resistance of the plants against biotic and abiotic stress factors such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, insects, heat stress, cold stress, drought stress, UV stress and/or salt stress, less non-productive tillers, less dead basal leaves, less input needed (such as fertilizers, water or pesticides), greener leaves ("greening effect"), less premature stress-induced ripening and less fruit abscis- sion, complete maturation under shortened vegetation periods, longer and better grain- filling, less seeds needed, easier harvesting (for example by induction of leaf defoliation), faster and more uniform ripening, induction of young fruit abscission ("fruit thinning"), improved storability, longer shelf-life, easier and more cost effective storage conditions, longer panicles, delay of senescence, stronger and/or more productive till- ers, better extractability of ingredients, improved quality of seeds (for being seeded in the following seasons for seed production) and/or reduced production of ethylene and/or the inhibition of its reception by the plant as compared with the control plant. The improvement of the plant vigor according to the present invention compared with the control, particularly means that the improvement of any one or several or all of the above mentioned plant characteristics are improved independently of the pesticidal action of the composition or active ingredients.
"Early vigour" refers to active healthy well-balanced growth especially during early stages of plant growth, and may result from increased plant fitness due to, for example, the plants being better adapted to their environment (i.e. optimizing the use of energy resources and partitioning between shoot and root). Plants having early vigour also show increased seedling survival and a better establishment of the crop, which often results in highly uniform fields (with the crop growing in uniform manner, i.e. with the majority of plants reaching the various stages of development at substantially the same time), and often better and higher yield. Therefore, early vigour may be determined by measuring various factors, such as thousand kernel weight, percentage germination, percentage emergence, seedling growth, seedling height, root length, root and shoot biomass and many more.
Another indicator for the condition of the plant is the "quality" of a plant and/or its products. According to the present invention, "enhanced quality" means that certain crop characteristics such as the content or composition of certain ingredients are increased or improved by a measurable or noticeable amount over the same factor of the control plant produced under the same conditions.
In one embodiment of the invention the quality of a product of the respective plant becomes manifest in in at least one aspects selected from the group consisting of improved nutrient content, improved protein content, improved content of fatty acids, im- proved metabolite content, improved carotenoid content, improved sugar content, improved amount of essential and/or non-essential amino acids, improved nutrient composition, improved protein composition, improved composition of fatty acids, improved metabolite composition, improved carotenoid composition, improved sugar composition, improved amino acids composition, improved or optimal fruit color, improved tex- ture of fruits, improved leaf color, higher storage capacity and/or higher processability of the harvested products as compared to the control.
In one embodiment of the invention the quality of a product of the respective plant becomes manifest in in at least one aspects selected from the group consisting of improved nutrient yield, improved protein yield, improved yield of fatty acids, improved metabolite yield, improved carotenoid yield, improved sugar yield and/or improved yield of essential and/or non-essential amino acids of the harvested products as compared to the control. In one embodiment of the invention, the nutrient yield, protein yield, yield of fatty acids, metabolite yield, carotenoid yield, sugar yield and/or yield of essential and/or non-essential amino acids is calculated as a fuction of seed and/or biomass yield in relation to the respective nutrient, protein, fatty acids, metabolite, carotenoid, sugar and/or essential and/or non-essential amino acids.
The terms "increase", "improve" or "enhance" are interchangeable and shall mean in the sense of the application at least a 0.5%, 1 %, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9% or 10%, preferably at least 15% or 20%, more preferably at least 25%, 30%, 35% or 40% more of the respective trait, characteristic, aspect, property, feature or atribut as disclosed in this specification, for example yield and/or growth in comparison to control plants as defined herein.
In one embodiment of the invention the increased seed yield manifest itself as one or more of the following: a) an increase in seed biomass (total seed weight) which may be on an individual seed basis and/or per plant and/or per square meter; b) increased number of flowers per plant; c) increased number of (filled) seeds; d) increased seed filling rate (which is expressed as the ratio between the number of filled seeds divided by the total number of seeds); e) increased harvest index, which is expressed as a ratio of the yield of harvestable parts, such as seeds, divided by the total biomass; and f) increased thousand kernel weight (TKW), which is extrapolated from the number of filled seeds counted and their total weight. An increased TKW may result from an increased seed size and/or seed weight, and may also result from an increase in embryo and/or endosperm size.
In one embodiment of the invention the increase in seed yield is also manifested as an increase in seed size and/or seed volume. Furthermore, an increase in seed yield is also manifest itself as an increase in seed area and/or seed length and/or seed width and/or seed perimeter. In a further embodiment increased yield also results in modified architecture, or may occur because of modified architecture.
In one embodiment the beneficial effect of the present invention may manifest itself not in the seed yield per se, but in the seed quality and the quality of the agricultural prod- ucts produced from the plants treated according to the invention. Seed quality may relate to different parameters known in the art, such as enhanced nutrient or fine chemical content, e.g. amounts of vitamins or fatty acids and their composition; colouring or shape of the seed; germination rate or seed vigour; or reduced amounts of toxins, e.g. fungal toxins, and/or of substances hard to digest or indigestible, e.g. phytate, lignin.
The "greenness index" as used herein is calculated from digital images of plants. For each pixel belonging to the plant object on the image, the ratio of the green value versus the red value (in the RGB model for encoding colour) is calculated. The greenness index is expressed as the percentage of pixels for which the green-to-red ratio exceeds a given threshold. Under normal growth conditions, under salt stress growth conditions, and under reduced nutrient availability growth conditions, the greenness index of plants is measured in the last imaging before flowering. In contrast, under drought stress growth conditions, the greenness index of plants is measured in the first imaging after drought. Similarly the measurements may be done after exposure to other abiotic stress treatments, e.g. temperature.
Another indicator for the condition of the plant is the plant's tolerance or resistance to biotic and/or abiotic stress factors. Biotic and abiotic stress, especially over longer terms, can have harmful effects on plants. Biotic stress is caused by living organisms while abiotic stress is caused for example by environmental extremes or conditions unfavourable for an optimal growth of the plant.
According to the present invention, "enhanced tolerance or resistance to biotic and/or abiotic stress factors" means (1.) that certain negative factors caused by biotic and/or abiotic stress are diminished in a measurable or noticeable amount as compared to control plants exposed to the same conditions, and (2.) that the negative effects are not diminished by a direct action of the composition on the stress factors, for example by its fungicidal or insecticidal action which directly destroys the microorganisms or pests, but rather by a stimulation of the plants' own defensive reactions ("priming") against said stress factors ("induced resistance") or by the above mentioned synergistic effect. Biotic stress can be caused by living organisms, such as pests (for example insects, arachnides, nematodes), competing plants (for example weeds), microorganisms (such as phythopathogenic fungi and/or bacteria) and/or viruses. Abiotic stress can be caused for example by extremes in temperature such as heat or cold (heat stress, cold stress), strong variations in temperature, temperatures unusual for the specific season, drought (drought stress), extreme wetness, high salinity (salt stress), radiation (for ex- ample by increased UV radiation due to the decreasing ozone layer), increased ozone levels (ozone stress), organic pollution (for example by phythotoxic amounts of pesticides) and inorganic pollution (for example by heavy metal contaminants). Both biotic as well as abiotic stress factors may in addition lead to secondary stresses such as oxidative stress.
As a result of biotic and/or abiotic stress factors, the quantity and the quality of the stressed plants, their crops and fruits decrease. In one embodiment of the invention enhanced tolerance or resistance to biotic of the respective plant becomes manifest in in at least one aspects selected from the group consisting of tolerance or resistance to pests (for example insects, arachnides, nematodes), competing plants (for example weeds), microorganisms (such as phythopatho- genic fungi and/or bacteria) and/or viruses. In one embodiment of the invention enhanced tolerance or resistance to abiotic of the respective plant becomes manifest in in at least one aspects selected from the group consisting of tolerance or resistance to extremes in temperature such as heat or cold (heat stress, cold stress), strong variations in temperature, temperatures unusual for the specific season, drought (drought stress), extreme wetness, high salinity (salt stress), radiation (for example by increased UV radiation due to the decreasing ozone layer), increased ozone levels (ozone stress), organic pollution (for example by phythotoxic amounts of pesticides) and inorganic pollution (for example by heavy metal contaminants). The above identified indicators for the health condition of a plant may be interdepend- ent and may result from each other. For example, an increased resistance to biotic and/or abiotic stress may lead to a better plant vigor, e.g. to better and bigger crops, and thus to an increased yield. Inversely, a more developed root system may result in an increased resistance to biotic and/or abiotic stress. However, these interdependen- cies and interactions are neither all known nor fully understood. In one embodiment of the present invention, plant yield is increased by increasing the environmental stress tolerance(s) of a plant, in particular the tolerance to abiotic stress. Generally, the term "increased tolerance to stress" can be defined as survival of plants, and/or higher yield production, under stress conditions as compared to a control plant: For example, the plant of the invention is better adapted to the stress conditions. "Im- proved adaptation" to environmental stress like e.g. drought, heat, nutrient depletion, freezing and/or chilling temperatures refers herein to an improved plant performance resulting in an increased yield, particularly with regard to one or more of the yield related traits as defined in more detail above.
During its life-cycle, a plant is generally confronted with a diversity of environmental conditions. Any such conditions, which may, under certain circumstances, have an impact on plant yield, are herein referred to as "stress" condition. Environmental stresses may generally be divided into biotic and abiotic (environmental) stresses. Unfavourable nutrient conditions are sometimes also referred to as "environmental stress". In one embodiment the present invention does also contemplate solutions for this kind of envi- ronmental stress, e.g. referring to increased nutrient use efficiency. For the purposes of the description of the present invention, the terms "enhanced tolerance to stress", "enhanced resistance to environmental stress", "enhanced tolerance to environmental stress", "improved adaptation to environmental stress" and other variations and expressions similar in its meaning are used interchangeably and refer, without limitation, to an improvement in tolerance to one or more environmental stress(es) as described herein and as compared to a corresponding control plant.
The term abiotic stress tolerance(s) refers for example low temperature tolerance, drought tolerance or improved water use efficiency (WUE), heat tolerance, salt stress tolerance and others. Stress tolerance in plants like low temperature, drought, heat and salt stress tolerance can have a common theme important for plant growth, namely the availability of water. Plants are typically exposed during their life cycle to conditions of reduced environmental water content. The protection strategies are similar to those of chilling tolerance.
Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, said yield-related trait relates to an increased water use efficiency of the plant of the invention and/ or an increased tolerance to drought conditions of the plant of the invention. Water use efficiency (WUE) is a parameter often correlated with drought tolerance. An increase in biomass at low water availability may be due to relatively improved efficiency of growth or reduced water consumption. In selecting traits for improving crops, a decrease in water use, without a change in growth would have particular merit in an irrigated agricultural system where the water input costs were high. An increase in growth without a corresponding jump in water use would have applicability to all agricultural systems. In many agricultural systems where water supply is not limiting, an increase in growth, even if it came at the expense of an increase in water use also increases yield. In one embodiment of the present invention, an increased plant yield is mediated by increasing the "nutrient use efficiency of a plant", e.g. by improving the nutrient use efficiency of nutrients including, but not limited to, phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. An increased nutrient use efficiency is in one embodiment an enhanced nitrogen uptake, assimilation, accumulation or utilization. These complex processes are associ- ated with absorption, translocation, assimilation, and redistribution of nitrogen in the plant.
It has to be emphasized that the above mentioned effects of the method according to the invention, i.e. enhanced health of the plant, are also present when the plant is not under biotic stress for example when the plant is not under fungal- or pest pressure. It is evident that a plant suffering from fungal or insecticidal attack produces a smaller biomass and a smaller crop yield as compared to a plant which has been subjected to curative or preventive treatment against the pathogenic fungus or pest and which can grow without the damage caused by the biotic stress factor. However, the method according to the invention leads to an enhanced plant health even in the absence of any biotic stress and in particular of any phytopathogenic fungi or pest. This means that the positive effects of the method of the invention cannot be explained just by the pesticidal activities of the compounds of the invention, but are based on further activity profiles. The term "plant" as used herein encompasses whole plants and progeny of the plants and plant parts, including seeds, shoots, stems, leaves, roots (including tubers), flow- ers, and tissues and organs.
For the purposes of the invention, as a rule the plural is intended to encompass the singular and vice versa.
Tolerance to herbicides can be obtained by creating insensitivity at the site of action of the herbicide by expression of a target enzyme which is resistant to herbicide; rapid metabolism (conjugation or degradation) of the herbicide by expression of enzymes which inactivate herbicide; or poor uptake and translocation of the herbicide. Examples are the expression of enzymes which are tolerant to the herbicide in comparison to wild type enzymes, such as the expression of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate syn- thase (EPSPS), which is tolerant to glyphosate (see e.g. Heck et.al, Crop Sci. 45, 2005, 329-339; Funke et.al, PNAS 103, 2006, 1 301 0-13015; US 5188642, US 4940835, US 5633435, US 5804425, US 5627061 ), the expression of glutamine synthase which is tolerant to glufosinate and bialaphos (see e.g. US 5646024, US 5561236) and DNA constructs coding for dicamba-degrading enzymes (see e.g. US 7105724). Gene constructs can be obtained, for example, from micro-organism or plants, which are tolerant to said herbicides, such as the Agrobacterium strain CP4 EPSPS which is resistant to glyphosate; Streptomyces bacteria which are resistance to glufosinate; Arabidopsis, Daucus carota, Pseudomonoas spp. or Zea mais with chimeric gene sequences coding for HDDP (see e.g. WO 1996/38567, WO 2004/55191 ); Arabidopsis thaliana which is resistant to protox inhibitors (see e.g. US 2002/0073443).
Preferaby, the herbicide tolerant plant can be selected from cereals such as wheat, barley, rye, oat; canola, sorghum, soybean, rice, oil seed rape, sugar beet, sugarcane, grapes, lentils, sunflowers, alfalfa, pome fruits; stone fruits; peanuts; coffee; tea; straw- berries; turf; vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucurbits and lettuce, more preferably, the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape in particular canola, tomatoes, potatoes, sugarcane, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
Examples of commercial available transgenic plants with tolerance to herbicides, are the corn varieties "Roundup Ready Corn", "Roundup Ready 2" (Monsanto), "Agrisure GT", "Agrisure GT/CB/LL", "Agrisure GT/RW", ,,Agrisure 3000GT" (Syngenta), "YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2" and "YieldGard VT Triple" (Monsanto) with tolerance to glyphosate; the corn varieties "Liberty Link" (Bayer), "Herculex I", "Herculex RW", "Her- culex Xtra"(Dow, Pioneer), "Agrisure GT/CB/LL" and "Agrisure CB/LL/RW" (Syngenta) with tolerance to glufosinate; the soybean varieties "Roundup Ready Soybean" (Monsanto) and "Optimum GAT" (DuPont, Pioneer) with tolerance to glyphosate; the cotton varieties "Roundup Ready Cotton" and "Roundup Ready Flex" (Monsanto) with tolerance to glyphosate; the cotton variety "FiberMax Liberty Link" (Bayer) with tolerance to glufosinate; the cotton variety "BXN" (Calgene) with tolerance to bromoxynil; the canola varieties ..Navigator" und ..Compass" (Rhone-Poulenc) with bromoxynil tolerance; the canola varierty"Roundup Ready Canola" (Monsanto) with glyphosate tolerance; the canola variety "InVigor" (Bayer) with glufosinate tolerance; the rice variety "Liberty Link Rice" (Bayer) with glulfosinate tolerance and the alfalfa variety "Roundup Ready Alfalfa" with glyphosate tolerance. Further transgenic plants with herbicide tolerance are commonly known, for instance alfalfa, apple, eucalyptus, flax, grape, lentils, oil seed rape, peas, potato, rice, sugar beet, sunflower, tobacco, tomatom turf grass and wheat with tolerance to glyphosate (see e.g. US 5188642, US 4940835, US 5633435, US 5804425, US 5627061); beans, soybean, cotton, peas, potato, sunflower, tomato, tobacco, corn, sorghum and sugarcane with tolerance to dicamba (see e.g. US 7105724 and US 5670454); pepper, apple, tomato, millet, sunflower, tobacco, potato, corn, cu- cumber, wheat and sorghum with tolerance to 2,4-D (see e.g. US 6153401 , US
6100446, WO 2005107437, US 5608147 and US 5670454); sugarbeet, potato, tomato and tobacco with tolerance to glufosinate (see e.g. US 5646024, US 5561236); canola, barley, cotton, lettuce, melon, millet, oats, potato, rice, rye, sorghum, soybean, sugarbeet, sunflower, tobacco, tomato and wheat with tolerance to acetolactate syn- thase (ALS) inhibiting herbicides, such as triazolopyrimidine sulfonamides, sulfonylureas and imidazolinones (see e.g. US 5013659, WO 2006060634, US 4761373, US 5304732, US 621 1438, US 6211439 and US 6222100); cereals, sugar cane, rice, corn, tobacco, soybean, cotton, rapeseed, sugar beet and potato with tolerance to HPPD inhibitor herbicides (see e.g. WO 2004/055191 , WO 199638567, WO 1997049816 and US 6791014); wheat, soybean, cotton, sugar beet, rape, rice, sorghum and sugar cane with tolerance to protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) inhibitor herbicides (see e.g. US 2002/0073443, US 20080052798, Pest Management Science, 61 , 2005, 277-285). The methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
Plants, which are capable of synthesising one or more selectively acting bacterial toxins, comprise for example at least one toxin from toxin-producing bacteria, especially those of the genus Bacillus, in particular plants capable of synthesising one or more insecticidal proteins from Bacillus cereus or Bacillus popliae; or insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis, such as delta. -endotoxins, e.g. CrylA(b), CrylA(c), CrylF, CrylF(a2), CryllA(b), CrylllA, CrylllB(bi ) or Cryθc, or vegetative insecticidal proteins (VIP), e.g. VIP1 , VIP2, VIP3 or VIP3A; or insecticidal proteins of bacteria colonising nematodes, for example Photorhabdus spp. or Xenorhabdus spp., such as Photorhab- dus luminescens, Xenorhabdus nematophilus; toxins produced by animals, such as scorpion toxins, arachnid toxins, wasp toxins and other insect-specific neurotoxins; toxins produced by fungi, such as Streptomycetes toxins, plant lectins, such as pea lectins, barley lectins or snowdrop lectins; agglutinins; proteinase inhibitors, such as trypsine inhibitors, serine protease inhibitors, patatin, cystatin, papain inhibitors; ribo- some-inactivating proteins (RIP), such as ricin, maize-RIP, abrin, luffin, saporin or bryodin; steroid metabolism enzymes, such as 3-hydroxysteroidoxidase, ecdysteroid- UDP-glycosyl-transferase, cholesterol oxidases, ecdysone inhibitors, H MG-COA- reductase, ion channel blockers, such as blockers of sodium or calcium channels, ju- venile hormone esterase, diuretic hormone receptors, stilbene synthase, bibenzyl synthase, chitinases and glucanases.
In one embodiment a plant is capable of producing a toxin, lectin or inhibitor if it contains at least one cell comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding said toxin, lectin, inhibitor or inhibitor producing enzyme, and said nucleic acid sequence is transcribed and translated and if appropriate the resulting protein processed and/or secreted in a constitutive manner or subject to developmental, inducible or tissue-specific regulation.
In the context of the present invention there are to be understood delta. -endotoxins, for example CrylA(b), CrylA(c), CrylF, CrylF(a2), CryllA(b), CrylllA, CrylllB(bi ) or Cryθc, or vegetative insecticidal proteins (VIP), for example VIP1 , VIP2, VIP3 or VIP3A, expressly also hybrid toxins, truncated toxins and modified toxins. Hybrid toxins are produced recombinantly by a new combination of different domains of those proteins (see, for example, WO 02/15701). An example for a truncated toxin is a truncated CrylA(b), which is expressed in the Bt1 1 maize from Syngenta Seed SAS, as described below. In the case of modified toxins, one or more amino acids of the naturally occurring toxin are replaced. In such amino acid replacements, preferably non-naturally present protease recognition sequences are inserted into the toxin, such as, for example, in the case of CrylllA055, a cathepsin-D-recognition sequence is inserted into a CrylllA toxin (see WO 2003/018810).
Examples of such toxins or transgenic plants capable of synthesising such toxins are disclosed, for example, in EP-A-O 374 753, WO 93/07278, WO 95/34656, EP-A-O 427 529, EP-A-451 878 and WO 2003/052073.
The processes for the preparation of such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above. Cryl-type deoxyribonucleic acids and their preparation are known, for example, from WO 95/34656, EP-A-O 367 474, EP-A-O 401 979 and WO 1990/13651.
The toxin contained in the transgenic plants imparts to the plants tolerance to harmful insects. Such insects can occur in any taxonomic group of insects, but are especially commonly found in the beetles (Coleoptera), two-winged insects (Diptera) and butterflies (Lepidoptera).
Preferably, the plant capable of expression of bacterial toxins is selected from cereals such as wheat, barley, rye, oat; canola, cotton, eggplant, lettuce, sorghum, soybean, rice, oil seed rape, sugar beet, sugarcane, grapes, lentils, sunflowers, alfalfa, pome fruits; stone fruits; peanuts; coffee; tea; strawberries; turf; vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucurbits and lettuce, more preferably, the plant is selected from cotton, soybean, maize (corn), rice, tomatoes, potatoes, oilseed rape and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from cotton, soybean, maize, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
Examples of commercial available transgenic plants capable of expression of bacterial toxins are the corn varieties "YieldGard corn rootworm" (Monsanto), "YieldGard VT" (Monsanto), "Herculex RW" (Dow, Pioneer), "Herculex Rootworm" (Dow, Pioneer) and "Agrisure CRW" (Syngenta) with resistance against corn rootworm; the corn varieties "YieldGard corn borer" (Monsanto), ,,YieldGard VT Pro" (Monsanto), "Agrisure CB/LL" (Syngenta), "Agrisure 3000GT" (Syngenta), "Hercules I", "Hercules II" (Dow, Pioneer), "KnockOut" (Novartis), ,,NatureGard" (Mycogen) and ,,Starl_ink" (Aventis) with resis- tance against corn borer, the corn varieties ,,Herculex I" (Dow, Pioneer) and ,,Herculex Xtra" (Dow, Pioneer) with resistance against western bean cutworm, corn borer, black cutworm and fall armyworm; the corn variety "YieldGard Plus" (Monsanto) with resistance against corn borer and corn rootworm; the cotton variety "Bollgard I"" (Monsanto) with resistance against tobacco budworm; the cotton varieties "Bollgard II" (Monsanto), ,,WideStrike" (Dow) and,,VipCot" (Syngenta) with resistance against tobacco budworm, cotton bollworm, fall armyworm, beet armyworm, cabbage looper, soybean lopper and pink bollworm; the potato varieties "NewLeaf", "NewLeaf Y" and "NewLeaf Plus" (Monsanto) with tobacco hornworm resistance and the eggplant varieties "Bt brinjal", "Dumaguete Long Purple", "Mara" with resistance against brinjal fruit and shoot borer, bruit borer and cotton bollworm (see e.g. US5128130). Further transgenic plants with insect resistance are commonly known, such as yellow stemborer resistant rice (see e.g. Molecular Breeding, Volume 18, 2006, Number 1), lepidopteran resistant lettuce (see e.g. US 5349124 ), resistant soybean (see e.g. US 7432421 ) and rice with resistance against Lepidopterans, such as rice stemborer, rice skipper, rice cutworm, rice caseworm, rice leaffolder and rice armyworm (see e.g. WO 2001021821 ). The methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
Preferably, plants, which are capable of synthesising antipathogenic substances are selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, tomatoes, potato, banana, papaya, tobacco, grape, plum and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, tomatoes, potato, banana, papaya, oil seed rape, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
Plants, which are capable of synthesising antipathogenic substances having a selective action are for example plants expressing the so-called "pathogenesis-related proteins" (PRPs, see e.g. EP-A-O 392 225) or so-called "antifungal proteins" (AFPs, see e.g. US 6864068). A wide range of antifungal proteins with activity against plant pathogenic fungi have been isolated from certain plant species and are common knowledge. Examples of such antipathogenic substances and transgenic plants capable of synthesis- ing such antipathogenic substances are known, for example, from EP-A-O 392 225, WO 93/05153, WO 95/33818, and EP-A-O 353 191. Transgenic plants which are resistant against fungal, viral and bacterial pathogens are produced by introducing plant resistance genes. Numerous resistant genes have been identified, isolated and were used to improve plant resistant, such as the N gene which was introduced into tobacco lines that are susceptible to Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) in order to produce TMV- resistant tobacco plants (see e.g. US 5571706), the Prf gene, which was introduced into plants to obtain enhanced pathogen resistance (see e.g. WO 199802545) and the Rps2 gene from Arabidopsis thaliana, which was used to create resistance to bacterial pathogens including Pseudomonas syringae (see e.g. WO 199528423). Plants exhibiting systemic acquired resistance response were obtained by introducing a nucleic acid molecule encoding the TIR domain of the N gene (see e.g. US 6630618). Further examples of known resistance genes are the Xa21 gene, which has been introduced into a number of rice cultivars (see e.g. US 5952485, US 5977434, WO 1999/09151 , WO 1996/22375), the Rcg1 gene for colletotrichum resistance (see e.g. US 2006/225152), the prp1 gene (see e.g. US 5859332, WO 2008/017706), the ppv-cp gene to introduce resistance against plum pox virus (see e.g. US PP15,154Ps), the P1 gene (see e.g. US5968828), genes such as BIbI , Blb2, Blb3 and RB2 to introduce resistance against Phytophthora infestans in potato (see e.g. US 7148397), the LRPKmI gene (see e.g. WO1999064600), the P1 gene for potato virus Y resistance (see e.g. US 5968828), the HA5-1 gene (see e.g. US5877403 and US6046384), the PIP gene to indroduce a broad resistant to viruses, such as potato virus X (PVX), potato virus Y (PVY), potato leafroll virus (PLRV) (see e.g. EP 0707069) and genes such as Arabidopsis NH 6, ScaM4 and ScaM5 genes to obtain fungal resistance (see e.g. US 6706952 and EP 1018553). The methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
Antipathogenic substances which can be expressed by such transgenic plants include, for example, ion channel blockers, such as blockers for sodium and calcium channels, for example the viral KP1 , KP4 or KP6 toxins; stilbene synthases; bibenzyl synthases; chitinases; glucanases; the so-called "pathogenesis-related proteins"" (PRPs; see e.g. EP-A-O 392 225); antipathogenic substances produced by microorganisms, for example peptide antibiotics or heterocyclic antibiotics (see e.g. WO 1995/33818) or protein or polypeptide factors involved in plant pathogen defense (so-called "plant disease resistance genes", as described in WO 2003/000906).
Antipathogenic substances produced by the plants are able to protect the plants against a variety of pathogens, such as fungi, viruses and bacteria. Useful plants of elevated interest in connection with present invention are cereals, such as wheat, barley, rye and oat; soybean; maize; rice; alfalfa, cotton, sugar beet, sugarcane, tobacco , potato, banana, oil seed rape; pome fruits; stone fruits; peanuts; coffee; tea; strawberries; turf; vines and vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucurbits, papaya, melon, lenses and lettuce, more preferably selected from soybean, maize (corn), alfalfa, cotton, potato, banana, papaya, rice, tomatoes and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, potato, tomato, oilseed rape, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
Transgenic plants with resistance against fungal pathogens, are, for examples, soybeans with resistance against Asian soybean rust (see e.g. WO 2008/017706); plants such as alfalfa, corn, cotton, sugar beet, oileed, rape, tomato, soybean, wheat, potato and tobacco with resistance against Phytophtora infestans (see e.g. US5859332, US 7148397, EP 1334979); corn with resistance against leaf blights, ear rots and stalk rots (such as anthracnose leaf bligh, anthracnose stalk rot, diplodia ear rot, Fusarium verti- cilioides, Gibberella zeae and top dieback, see e.g. US 2006/225152); apples with resistance against apple scab (Venturia inaequalis, see e.g. WO 1999064600); plants such as rice, wheat, barley, rye, corn, oats, potato, melon, soybean and sorghum with resistance against fusarium diseases, such as Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium sporotrichioides, Fusarium lateritium, Fusarium pseudograminearum Fusarium sam- bucinum, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium poae, Fusarium acuminatum, Fusarium equi- seti (see e.g. US 6646184, EP 1477557); plants, such as corn, soybean, cereals (in particular wheat, rye, barley, oats, rye, rice), tobacco, sorghum, sugarcane and potatoes with broad fungal resistance (see e.g. US 5689046, US 6706952, EP 1018553 and US 6020129).
Transgenic plants with resistance against bacterial pathogens and which are covered by the present invention, are, for examples, rice with resistance against XyIeIIa fas- tidiosa (see e.g. US 6232528); plants, such as rice, cotton, soybean, potato, sorghum, corn, wheat, balrey, sugarcane, tomato and pepper, with resistance against bacterial blight (see e.g. WO 2006/42145, US 5952485, US 5977434, WO 1999/09151 , WO 1996/22375); tomato with resistance against Pseudomonas syringae (see e.g. Can. J. Plant Path., 1983, 5: 251-255).
Transgenic plants with resistance against viral pathogens, are, for examples, stone fruits, such as plum, almond, apricot, cherry, peach, nectarine, with resistance against plum pox virus (PPV, see e.g. US PP15,154Ps, EP 0626449); potatoes with resistance against potato virus Y (see e.g. US 5968828); plants such as potato, tomato, cucumber and leguminosaes which are resistant against tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV, see e.g. EP 0626449, US 5973135); corn with resistance against maize streak virus (see e.g. US 6040496); papaya with resistance against papaya ring spot virus (PRSV, see e.g. US 5877403, US 6046384); cucurbitaceae, such as cucumber, melon, watermelon and pumpkin, and solanaceae, such as potato, tobacco, tomato, eggplant, paprika and pepper, with resistance against cucumber mosaic virus (CMV, see e.g. US 6849780); cucurbitaceae, such as cucumber, melon, watermelon and pumkin, with resistance against watermelon mosaic virus and zucchini yellow mosaic virus (see e.g. US 6015942); potatoes with resistance against potato leafroll virus (PLRV, see e.g. US 5576202); potatoes with a broad resistance to viruses, such as potato virus X (PVX), potato virus Y (PVY), potato leafroll virus (PLRV) (see e.g. EP 0707069).
Table I: Further examples of deregulated orcommercially available transgenic plants with modified genetic material capable of expression of antipathogenic substances are
Figure imgf000033_0001
Transgenic plants with resistance against nematodes and which may be used in the methods of the present invention are, for examples, soybean plants with resistance to soybean cyst nematodes.
Methods have been proposed for the genetic transformation of plants in order to confer increased resistance to plant parasitic nematodes. U.S. Patent Nos. 5,589,622 and 5,824,876 are directed to the identification of plant genes expressed specifically in or adjacent to the feeding site of the plant after attachment by the nematode. Also known in the art are transgenic plants with reduced feeding structures for parasitic nematodes, e.g. plants resistant to herbicides except of those parts or those cells that are nematode feeding sites and treating such plant with a herbicide to prevent, reduce or limit nematode feeding by damaging or destroying feeding sites (e.g. US 5866777). Use of RNAi to target essential nematode genes has been proposed, for example, in PCT Publication WO 2001/96584, WO 2001/17654, US 2004/0098761 , US 2005/0091713, US 2005/0188438, US 2006/0037101 , US 2006/0080749, US 2007/0199100, and US 2007/0250947. Transgenic nematode resistant plants have been disclosed, for example in the PCT publications WO 2008/095886 and WO 2008/095889.
Plants wich are resistant to antibiotics, such as kanamycin, neomycin and ampicillin. The naturally occurring bacterial nptll gene expresses the enzyme that blocks the effects of the antibiotics kanamycin and neomycin. The ampicillin resistance gene ampR (also known as blaTEMI) is derived from the bacterium Salmonella paratyphi and is used as a marker gene in the transformation of micro-organisms and plants. It is responsible for the synthesis of the enzyme beta-lactamase, which neutralises antibiotics in the penicillin group, including ampicillin. Transgenic plants with resistance against antibiotics, are, for examples potato, tomato, flax, canola, oilseed rape and corn (see e.g. Plant Cell Reports, 20, 2001 , 610-615. Trends in Plant Science, 1 1 , 2006, 317- 319. Plant Molecular Biology, 37, 1998, 287-296. MoI Gen Genet., 257, 1998, 606-13.). Plant Cell Reports, 6, 1987, 333-336. Federal Register (USA), Vol.60, No.1 13, 1995, page 31 139. Federal Register (USA), Vol.67, No.226, 2002, page 70392. Federal Register (USA), Vol.63, No.88, 1998, page 25194. Federal Register (USA), Vol.60, No.141 , 1995, page 37870. Canadian Food Inspection Agency, FD/OFB-095-264-A, October 1999, FD/OFB-099-127-A, October 1999. Preferably, the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape, potato, sugarcane, alfalfa, toma- toes and cereals, such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape, tomato, potato, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
Plants which are tolerant to stress conditions (see e.g. WO 2000/04173, WO 2007/131699, CA 2521729 and US 2008/0229448) are plants, which show increased tolerance to abiotic stress conditions such as drought, high salinity, high light intensities, high UV irradiation, chemical pollution (such as high heavy metal concentration), low or high temperatures, limitied supply of nutrients (i.e. nitrogen, phosphorous) and population stress. Preferably, transgenic plants with resistance to stress conditions, are selected from rice, corn, soybean, sugarcane, alfalfa, wheat, tomato, potato, barley, rapeseed, beans, oats, sorghum and cotton with tolerance to drought (see e.g. WO 2005/048693, WO 2008/002480 and WO 2007/030001 ); corn, soybean, wheat, cotton, rice, rapeseed and alfalfa with tolerance to low temperatures (see e.g. US 4731499 and WO 2007/112122); rice, cotton, potato, soybean, wheat, barley, rye, sorghum, al- falfa, grape, tomato, sunflower and tobacco with tolerance to high salinity (see e.g. US 7256326, US 7034139, WO 2001/030990). The methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above. Preferably, the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, sugarcane, alfalfa, sugar beet, potato, oilseed rape, tomatoes and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape, tomato, potato, sugarcane, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat. Altered maturation properties, are for example delayed ripening, delayed softening and early maturity. Preferably, transgenic plants with modified maturation properties, are, selected from tomato, melon, raspberry, strawberry, muskmelon, pepper and papaya with delayed ripening (see e.g. US 5767376, US 7084321 , US 6107548, US 5981831 , WO 1995035387, US 5952546, US 5512466, WO 1997001952, WO 1992/008798, Plant Cell. 1989, 53-63. Plant Molecular Biology, 50, 2002). The methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above. Preferably, the plant is selected from fruits, such as tomato, vine, melon, papaya, banana, pepper, raspberry and strawberry; stone fruits, such as cherry, apricot and peach; pome fruits, such as apple and pear; and citrus fruits, such as citron, lime, orange, pomelo, grapefruit, and manda- rinτ more preferably from tomato, vine, apple, banana, orange and strawberry, most preferably tomatoes.
Content modification is synthesis of modified chemical compounds (if compared to the corresponding control plant) or synthesis of enhanced amounts of chemical (if compounds compared to the corresponding control plant) and corresponds to an increased or reduced amount of vitamins, amino acids, proteins and starch, different oils and a reduced amount of nicotine. Commercial examples are the soybean varieties "Vistive II" and "Visitive III" with low- linolenic/medium oleic content; the corn variety "Mavera high-value corn" with increased lysine content; and the soybean variety "Mavera high value soybean" with yielding 5% more protein compared to conventional varieties when processed into soybean meal. Further transgenic plants with altered content are, for example, potato and corn with modified amylopectin content (see e.g. US 6784338, US 20070261 136); ca- nola, corn, cotton, grape, catalpa, cattail, rice, soybean, wheat, sunflower, balsam pear and vernonia with a modified oil content (see e.g. US 7294759, US7157621 , US 5850026, US 6441278, US 6380462, US 6365802, US 6974898, WO 2001/079499, US 2006/0075515 and US 7294759); sunflower with increased fatty acid content (see e.g. US 6084164); soybeans with modified allergens content (so called "hypoallergenic soybean, see e.g. US 6864362); tobacco with reduced nicotine content (see e.g. US 20060185684, WO 2005000352 and WO 2007064636); canola and soybean with increased lysine content (see e.g. Bio/Technology 13, 1995, 577 - 582); corn and soybean with altered composition of methionine, leucine, isoleucine and valine (see e.g. US 6946589, US 6905877); soybean with enhanced sulfur amino acid content (see e.g. EP 0929685, WO 1997041239); tomato with increased free amino acid contents, such as asparagine, aspartic acid, serine, threonine, alanine, histidine and glutamic acid (see e.g. US 672741 1); corn with enhanced amino acid content (see e.g. WO 05077117); potato, corn and rice with modified starch content (see e.g. WO 1997044471 and US 7317146); tomato, corn, grape, alfalfa, apple, beans and peas with modified flavonoid content (see e.g. WO 2000/04175); corn, rice, sorghum, cotton, soybeans with altered content of phenolic compounds (see e.g. US 20080235829). The methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above. Preferably, the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, sugarcane, potato, tomato, oilseed rape, flax and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably soybean, maize (corn), rice, oilseed rape, potato, tomato, cotton, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
Enhanced nutrient utilization is e.g. assimilation or metabolism of nitrogen or phospho- rous. Preferably, transgenic plants with enhanced nitrogen assimilatory and utilization capacities are selected from for example, canola, corn, wheat, sunflower, rice, tobacco, soybean, cotton, alfalfa, tomato, wheat, potato, sugar beet, sugar cane and rapeseed (see e.g. WO 1995/00991 1 , WO 1997/030163, US 6084153, US 5955651 and US 6864405). Plants with improved phosphorous uptake are, for example, tomato and po- tato (see e.g. US 7417181). The methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above. Preferably, the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, sugarcane, alfalfa, potato, oilseed rape and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape, tomato, potato, vine, apple, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley.
Transgenic plants with male steriliy are preferably selected from canola, corn, tomato, rice, Indian mustard, wheat, soybean and sunflower (see e.g. US 6720481 , US 6281348, US 5659124, US 6399856, US 7345222, US 7230168, US 6072102, EP1 135982, WO 2001/092544 and WO 1996/040949). The methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above. Preferably, the plant is selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, oilseed rape, tomato, potato, vine, ap- pie, pear, citron, orange and cereals such as wheat, barley.
Table II: Further examples of deregulated or commercially available transgenic plants with modified genetic material being male sterile are
Figure imgf000036_0001
Figure imgf000037_0001
Plants, which produce higher quality fiber are e.g. transgenic cotton plants. The such improved quality of the fiber is related to improved micronaire of the fiber, increased strength, improved staple length, improved length unifomity and color of the fibers (see e.g. WO 1996/26639, US 7329802, US 6472588 and WO 2001/17333). The methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art and are described, for example, in the publications mentioned above.
As set forth above, cultivated plants may comprise one or more traits, e.g. selected from the group consisting of herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, fungal resistance, viral resistance, bacterial resistance, stress tolerance, maturation alteration, content modification, modified nutrient uptake and male sterility (see e.g. WO 2005033319 and US 6376754).
Examples of commercial available transgenic plants with two combined properties are the corn varieties "YieldGard Roundup Ready" and YieldGard Roundup Ready 2" (Monsanto) with glyphosate tolerance and resistance to corn borer; the corn variety "Agrisure CB/LL" (Syntenta) with glufosinate tolerance and corn borer resistance; the corn variety "Yield Gard VT Rootworm/RR2" with glyphosate tolerance and corn root- worm resistance; the corn variety "Yield Gard VT Triple" with glyphosate tolerance and resistance against corn rootworm and corn borer; the corn variety "Herculex I" with glufosinate tolerance and lepidopteran resistance (Cry1 F), i.e. against western bean cutworm, corn borer, black cutworm and fall armyworm; the corn variety "YieldGard Corn Rootworm/Roundup Ready 2" (Monsanto) with glyphosate tolerance and corn root- worm resistance; the corn variety "Agrisure GT/RW" (Syngenta) with gluphosinate tolerance and lepidopteran resistance (Cry3A), i.e. against western corn rootworm, northern corn rootworm and Mexican corn rootworm; the corn variety "Herculex RW" (Dow, Pioneer) with glufosinate tolerance and lepidopteran resistance (Cry34/35Ab1 ), i.e. against western corn rootworm, northern corn rootworm and Mexican corn rootworm; the corn variety "Yield Gard VT Rootworm/RR2" with glyphosate tolerance and corn rootworm resistance; the soybean variety "Optimum GAT" (DuPont, Pioneer) with glyphosate tolerance and ALS herbicide tolerance; the corn variety "Mavera high-value corn" with glyphosate tolerance, resistance to corn rootworm and European corn borer and high lysine trait.
Examples of commercial available transgenic plants with three traits are the corn vari- ety "Herculex I / Roundup Ready 2" with glyphosate tolerance, gluphosinate tolerance and lepidopteran resistance (Cry1 F), i.e. against western bean cutworm, corn borer, black cutworm and fall armyworm; the corn variety ΥieldGard Plus / Roundup Ready 2" (Monsanto) with glyphosate tolerance, corn rootworm resistance and corn borer resistance; the corn variety "Agrisure GT/CB/LL" (Syngenta) with tolerance to glyphosate tolerance, tolerance to gluphosinate and corn borer resistance; the corn variety "Herculex Xtra" (Dow, Pioneer) with glufosinate tolerance and lepidopteran resistance (Cry1 F + Cry34/35Ab1 ), i.e. against western corn rootworm, northern corn rootworm, Mecxican corn rootworm, western bean cutworm, corn borer, black cutworm and fall armyworm; the corn varieties "Agrisure CB/LL/RW" (Syngenta) with glufosinate toler- ance, corn borer resistance (CrylAb) and lepidopteran resistance (Cry3A), i.e. against western corn rootworm, northern corn rootworm and Mexican corn rootworm; the corn variety "Agrisure 3000GT" (Syngenta) with glyphosate tolerance + corn borer resistance (CrylAb) and lepidopteran resistance (Cry3A), i.e. against western corn root- worm, northern corn rootworm and Mexican corn rootworm. The methods of producing such transgenic plants are generally known to the person skilled in the art.
An example of a commercial available transgenic plant with four traits is ,,Hercules Quad-Stack" with glyphosate tolerance, glufosinate tolerance, corn borer resistance and corn rootworm resistance.
Preferably, the cultivated plants are plants, which comprise at least one trait selected from herbicide tolerance, insect resistance by expression of bacertial toxins, fungal resistance or viral resistance or bacterial resistance by expression of antipatho- genie substances stress tolerance, content modification of chemicals present in the cultivated plant compared to the corresponding control plant.
Most preferably, the cultivated plants are plants, which are tolerant to the action of herbicides and plants, which express bacterial toxins, which provides resistance against animal pests (such as insects or arachnids or nematodes), wherein the bacterial toxin is preferably a toxin from Bacillus thuriginensis. Herein, the plant is preferably selected from cotton, rice, maize, wheat, barley, rye, oat, soybean, potato, vine, apple, pear, citron and orange. In one embodiment of the invention the cultivated plant is selected from the group of plants as mentioned in the paragraphs and tables of this disclosure, preferably as mentioned above.
Preferably, the cultivated plants are plants, which comprise at least one trait selected from herbicide tolerance, insect resistance for example by expression of one or more bacterial toxins, fungal resistance or viral resistance or bacterial resistance by expression of one or more antipathogenic substances, stress tolerance, nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, content modification of chemicals present in the cultivated plant compared to the corresponding control plant.
More preferably, the cultivated plants are plants, which comprise at least one trait selected from herbicide tolerance, insect resistance by expression of one or more bacterial toxins, fungal resistance or viral resistance or bacterial resistance by expression of one or more antipathogenic substances, stress tolerance, content modification of one or more chemicals present in the cultivated plant compared to the corresponding control plant.
Most preferably, the cultivated plants are plants, which are tolerant to the action of herbicides and plants, which express one or more bacterial toxins, which provides resistance against one or more animal pests (such as insects or arachnids or nematodes), wherein the bacterial toxin is preferably a toxin from Bacillus thuriginensis. Herein, the cultivated plant is preferably selected from soybean, maize (corn), rice, cotton, sugarcane, alfalfa, potato, oilseed rape, tomatoes and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat, most preferably from soybean, maize (corn), cotton, rice and cereals such as wheat, barley, rye and oat.
Utmost preference is given to cultivated plants, which are tolerant to the action of herbicides.
In another utmost preference, the cultivated plants are plants, which are given in table A. Sources: AgBios database and GMO-compass database (AG BIOS, P.O. Box 475, 106 St. John St. Merrickville, Ontario KOG1 NO, Canada, access: http://www.agbios.com/dbase.php, also see BioTechniques, Volume 35, No. 3, Sept. 2008, p. 213, and http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/gmo/db/).
Table A
Figure imgf000039_0001
Figure imgf000040_0001
Figure imgf000041_0001
Figure imgf000042_0001
Figure imgf000043_0001
Figure imgf000044_0001
Figure imgf000045_0001
Figure imgf000046_0001
Figure imgf000047_0001
Figure imgf000048_0001
Figure imgf000049_0001
Figure imgf000050_0001
Figure imgf000051_0001
Figure imgf000052_0001
Figure imgf000053_0001
Figure imgf000054_0001
Figure imgf000055_0001
In a further utmost preference, the cultivated plants are plants comprising one or more genes as given in Table B. Sources: AgBios database (AG BIOS, P.O. Box 475, 106 St. John St. Merrickvil le, Ontario KOG 1 NO, Canada , access: http://www.agbios.com/dbase.php)
Table B
Figure imgf000055_0002
Figure imgf000056_0001
Figure imgf000057_0001
Thus, in one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is rendered tolerant to herbicides, more preferably to herbicides such as glutamine synthetase inhibitors, 5-enol-pyrovyl-shikimate-3- phosphate-synthase inhibitors, acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors, protoporphy- rinogen oxidase (PPO) inhibitors, auxine type herbicides, most preferably to herbicides such as glyphosate, glufosinate, imazapyr, imazapic, imazamox, imazethapyr, ima- zaquin, imazamethabenz methyl, dicamba and 2,4-D.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating culti- vated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethi- prole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 1.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 1.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 and the GABA is fipronil. Table 1
Figure imgf000058_0001
Figure imgf000059_0001
Figure imgf000060_0001
Figure imgf000061_0001
A* refers to US 4761373, US 5304732, US 5331 107, US 5718079, US 621 1438, US
621 1439 and US 6222100.
B* refers to Tan et. al, Pest Manag. Sci 61 , 246-257 (2005).
C* refers to imidazolinone-herbicide resistant rice plants with specific mutation of the acetohydroxyacid synthase gene: S653N ( see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), S654K ( see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), A122T (see e.g. WO 2004/106529) S653(At)N, S654(At)K,
A122(At)T and other resistant rice plants as described in WO 2000/27182, WO
2005/20673 and WO 2001/85970 or US patents US 5545822, US 5736629, US
5773703, US 5773704, US- 5952553, US 6274796, wherein plants with mutation S653A and A122T are most preferred.
D* refers to WO 2004/106529, WO 2004/16073, WO 2003/14357, WO 2003/13225 and
WO 2003/14356.
E* refers to US 5188642, US 4940835, US 5633435, US 5804425 and US 5627061.
F* refers to US 5646024 and US 5561236. G* refers to US 6333449, US 693311 1 and US 6468747.
H* refers to US 6153401 , US 6100446, WO 2005/107437, US 5670454 and US
5608147.
I* refers to WO 2004/055191 , WO 199638567 and US 6791014.
K* refers to HPPD inhibitor herbicides, such as isoxazoles (e.g. isoxaflutole), diketoni- triles, trikeones (e.g. sulcotrione and mesotrione), pyrazolinates.
L* refers to protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) inhibiting herbicides.
M* refers to US 2002/0073443, US 20080052798, Pest Management Science, 61 ,
2005, 277-285.
N* refers to the herbicide tolerant soybean plants presented under the name of CuI- tivance on the XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Sementes, 31st Augusta to 3rd September
2009 at Estagao Embratel Convention Center - Curitiba/PR, Brazil
U* "InVigor" (Bayer)
V* "Roundup Ready Canola" (Monsanto)
W*"Roundup Ready Corn", "Roundup Ready 2" (Monsanto), "Agrisure GT", "Agrisure GT/CB/LL", "Agrisure GT/RW", ,,Agrisure 3000GT" (Syngenta),
"YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2", "YieldGard VT Triple" (Monsanto)
X* "Roundup Ready Cotton", "Roundup Ready Flex" (Monsanto)
Y* "Roundup Ready Soybean" (Monsanto), "Optimum GAT" (DuPont, Pioneer)
Z* "Liberty Link" (Bayer), "Herculex I", "Herculex RW", "Herculex Xtra"(Dow, Pioneer), "Agrisure GT/CB/LL", "Agrisure CB/LL/RW" (Syngenta),
A subset of especially preferred herbicide tolerant plants is given in table 2. In this sub- set, there are further preferred embodiments:
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethi- prole and fipronil,.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corre- sponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 2 and the GABA is fipronil. In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-11 , T2-13, T2-15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, T2-19 and T2-23 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-1 1 , T2-13, T2-15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, 12- 19 and T2-23 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-11 , T2-13, T2-15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, 12- 19 and T2-23 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-1 1 , T2-13, T2-15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, T2-19 and T2-23 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-1 1 , T2-13, 12- 15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, T2-19 and T2-23 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T2-3, T2-8, T2-9, T2-10, T2-1 1 , T2-13, 12- 15, T2-16, T2-17, T2-18, T2-19 and T2-23 and the GABA is fipronil.
Table 2
Figure imgf000063_0001
Figure imgf000064_0001
A* refers to US 4761373, US 5304732, US 5331 107, US 5718079, US 621 1438, US
621 1439 and US 6222100.
B* refers to Tan et. al, Pest Manag. Sci 61 , 246-257 (2005). C* refers to imidazolinone-herbicide resistant rice plants with specific mutation of the acetohydroxyacid synthase gene: S653N ( see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), S654K ( see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), A122T (see e.g. WO 04/106529) S653(At)N, S654(At)K,
A122(At)T and other resistant rice plants as described in WO 2000/27182, WO
2005/20673 and WO 2001/85970 or US patents US 5545822, US 5736629, US 5773703, US 5773704, US- 5952553, US 6274796, wherein plants with mutation
S653A and A122T are most preferred.
D* refers to WO 04/106529, WO 04/16073, WO 03/14357, WO 03/13225 and WO
03/14356.
E* refers to US 5188642, US 4940835, US 5633435, US 5804425 and US 5627061. F* refers to US 5646024 and US 5561236.
G* refers to US 6333449, US 693311 1 and US 6468747.
H* refers to US 6153401 , US 6100446, WO 2005/107437 and US 5608147.
I* refers to Federal Register (USA), Vol. 61 , No.160, 1996, page 42581. Federal Register (USA), Vol. 63, No.204, 1998, page 56603. N* refers to the herbicide tolerant soybean plants presented under the name of CuI- tivance on the XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Sementes, 31 st Augusta to 3rd September
2009 at Estagao Embratel Convention Center - Curitiba/PR, Brazil
U* "Roundup Ready Canola" (Monsanto)
V* "Roundup Ready Corn", "Roundup Ready 2" (Monsanto), "Agrisure GT", "Agrisure GT/CB/LL", "Agrisure GT/RW", ,,Agrisure 3000GT" (Syngenta), "YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2", "YieldGard VT Triple" (Monsanto) W* "Roundup Ready Cotton", "Roundup Ready Flex" (Monsanto) x* "Roundup Ready Soybean" (Monsanto), "Optimum GAT" (DuPont, Pioneer) Y*"Liberty Link" (Bayer), "Herculex I", "Herculex RW", "Herculex Xtra"(Dow, Pioneer), "Agrisure GT/CB/LL", "Agrisure CB/LL/RW" (Syngenta) Z*"Navigator", "Compass" (Rhone-Poulenc)
In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which express at least one insecticidal toxin, preferably a toxin from Bacillus speicies, more preferably from Bacillus thuringiensis.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA as defined above, preferably with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 3 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is se- lected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3-10, T3-11 , T3-12, T3-13, T3- 14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3-10, T3-1 1 , T3-12, T3-13, T3-14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3-10, T3-1 1 , T3-12, T3-13, T3-14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3-10, T3- 1 1 , T3-12, T3-13, T3-14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3- 10, T3-11 , T3-12, T3-13, T3-14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T3-1 , T3-2, T3-5, T3-6, T3-7, T3-8, T3-9, T3- 10, T3-11 , T3-12, T3-13, T3-14, T3-15, T3-16, T3-17, T3-18, T3-19, T3-20, T3-23 and T3-25 and the GABA is fipronil.
Figure imgf000067_0001
Figure imgf000068_0001
A* refers to ,,Zhuxian B",WO2001021821 , Molecular Breeding, Volume 18, Number 1 / August 2006.
B* ΥieldGard corn rootworm" (Monsanto), "YieldGard Plus" (Monsanto), "YieldGard VT" (Monsanto), "Herculex RW" (Dow, Pioneer), "Herculex Rootworm" (Dow, Pioneer), "Agrisure OCRW" (Syngenta)
C* "YieldGard corn borer" (Monsanto), ,,YieldGard Plus" (Monsanto), ,,YieldGard VT Pro" (Monsanto), "Agrisure CB/LL" (Syngenta), "Agrisure 3000GT" (Syngenta), "Hercules I", "Hercules II" (Dow, Pioneer), "KnockOut" (Novartis), ,,NatureGard" (Mycogen), ,,StarLink" (Aventis)
D*"NewLeaf" (Monsanto), "NewLeaf Y" (Monsanto), "NewLeaf Plus" (Monsanto), US6100456
In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which shows increased resistance against fungal, viral and bacterial diseases, more preferably a plant, which expresses antipathogenic substances, such as antifungal proteins, or which has systemic acquired resistance properties.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethi- prole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 4.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 4.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 4 and the GABA is fipronil.
Table 4
Figure imgf000069_0001
Figure imgf000070_0001
Figure imgf000071_0001
A* refers to US 5689046 and US 6020129. B* refers to US 6706952 and EP 1018553. C* refers to US 6630618. D* refers to WO 1995/005731 and US 5648599. E* refers to the potato plant variety submitted for variety registration with the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), 3, boulevard Marechal Foch, BP 10121 , FR - 49101 Angers Cedex 02, France and having the CPVO file number 20082800
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is listed in table 5.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 5 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is se- lected from T5-1 , T5-3, T5-4, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10, T5-12 and T5-13 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T5-1 , T5-3, T5-4, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10.T5-12 and T5-13 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T5-2, T5-5, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10, T5-11 , T5-12 and T5-13 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T5-1 , T5-3, T5-4, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10, T5-12 and T5- 13 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T5-1 , T5-3, T5-4, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10, T5-12 and T5-13 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T5-1 , T5-3, T5-4, T5-6, T5-9, T5-10, T5-12 and T5-13 and the GABA is fipronil.
table 5
Figure imgf000073_0001
A* refers to US 5689046 and US 6020129. B* refers to US 6706952 and EP 1018553. C* refers to US 6630618.
D* refers to WO 2006/42145, US 5952485, US 5977434, WO 1999/09151 and WO 1996/22375.
E* refers to the potato plant variety submitted for variety registration with the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), 3, boulevard Marechal Foch, BP 10121 , FR - 49101 Angers Cedex 02, France and having the CPVO file number 20082800. In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is tolerant to abiotic stress, preferably drought, high salinity, high light intensities, high UV irradiation, chemical pollution (such as high heavy metal concentration), low or high temperatures, limitied supply of nutrients and population stress, most preferably drought, high salinity, low temperatures and limitied supply of nitrogen.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 6.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 6.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 6 and the GABA is fipronil.
Table 6
Figure imgf000075_0001
Figure imgf000076_0001
A* referes to WO 2000/04173, WO 2007/131699 and US 2008/0229448.
B* referes to WO 2005/48693.
C* referes to WO 2007/20001.
D* referes to US 7256326.
E* referes to US 4731499.
F* refers to WO 2008/002480.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating culti- vated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is listed in table 7. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethi- prole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corre- sponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 7 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8and the GABA is ethiprole. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T7-1 , T7-3, T7-5, T7-6 and T7-8 and the GABA is fipronil.
Table 7
Figure imgf000078_0001
A* referes to WO 2000/04173, WO 2007/131699 and US 2008/0229448. B* referes to WO 2005/48693. C* referes to WO 2007/20001. D* referes to US 7256326. E* referes to US 4731499.
In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which shows improved maturation, preferably fruit ripening, early maturity and delayed softening.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 8 or 8a.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 8 or 8a.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is fipronil. In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is ethi- prole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 8 or 8a and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T8-1 and the GABA is fipronil.
Table 8
Figure imgf000081_0001
Table 8a
Figure imgf000081_0002
In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a transgenic plant, which has modified content in comparison to wildtype plants, preferably increased vitamin content, altered oil content, nicotine reduction, increased or reduced amino acid content, protein alteration, modified starch content, enzyme alteration, altered flavonoid content and reduced allergens (hypoallergenic plants), most preferably increased vitamin content, altered oil content, nicotine reduction, increased lysine content, amylase alteration, amylopectin alteration. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which corresponds to a row of table 9.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is fipronil.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to row T9-48 of table 9 and the GABA is selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to row T9-49 of table 9 and the GABA is selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil. In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 9 and the GABA is fipronil.
Table 9
Figure imgf000083_0001
Figure imgf000084_0001
A* refers to US 7294759 and US 7157621.
B* refers to the potato plant variety submitted for variety registration with the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), 3, boulevard Marechal Foch, BP 10121 , FR - 49101 Angers Cedex 02, France and having the CPVO file number 20031520. C* refers to the potato plant variety submitted for variety registration with the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), 3, boulevard Marechal Foch, BP 10121 , FR - 49101 Angers Cedex 02, France and having the CPVO file number 20082534.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which corresponds to a row of table 10.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 10.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 10.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corre- sponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 10 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-11 and T10-12 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-1 1 and T10-12 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-1 1 and T10-12 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-11 and T10-12 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-11 and T10-12 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T10-1 , T10-2, T10-5, T10-6, T10-10, T10-11 and T10-12 and the GABA is fipronil.
Table 10
Figure imgf000086_0001
Figure imgf000087_0001
A* refers to US 7294759 and US 7157621.
In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which shows improved nutrient utilization, preferably the uptake, assimilation and metabolism of nitrogen and phosphorous.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which corresponds to a row of table 11.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 11.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 1. In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 11 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 1 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 1 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 11 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 1 1 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 11 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is se- lected from T1 1-4, T1 1 -5, T1 1 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T1 1 -4, T11 -5, T11 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T1 1 -4, T11 -5, T11 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T11-4, T1 1 -5, T1 1 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T1 1 -4, T11 -5, T11 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T1 1 -4, T11 -5, T11 -8 and T1 1 -9 and the GABA is fipronil.
Table 1 1
Figure imgf000089_0001
Figure imgf000090_0001
A* refers to US 6084153. B* referes to US 5955651 and US 6864405. C* refers to US 10/898,322 (application).
D* the term "utilization" refers to the improved nutrient uptake, assimilation or metabolism.
E* refers to WO 1995/00991 1. F* refers to WO 1997/030163.
G* referes to WO 2000/04173, WO 2007/131699 and US 2008/0229448 In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant selected from the group consisting of cotton, fiber plants (e.g. palms) and trees, preferably a cotton plant, which produces higher quality fiber, preferably improved micron- aire of the fiber, increased strength, improved staple length, improved length unifomity and color of the fibers.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cotton plants by treating cultivated plants parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil,.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cotton plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil,.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cotton plants by treating cultivated plants parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil,.
In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is male sterile or has an other trait as mentioned in table 12a.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant, which is listed in table 12 or 12a.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 12 or 12a.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to row of table 12 or 12a.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a
GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 12 or 12a and the GABA is fipronil.
Table 12
Figure imgf000092_0001
A* refers to US6281348, US6399856, US7230168, US6072102. B* refers to WO2001062889. C* refers to WO1996040949.
Table 12a
Figure imgf000092_0002
Figure imgf000093_0001
In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is resistant to antibiotics, more referably resistant to kanamycin, neomycin and ampicil- Nn, most preferably resistant to kanamycin.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a plant corresponding to a row of table 13.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13. In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corre- sponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 13 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is T13-2, T13-4 and the GABA is fipronil.
Table 13
Figure imgf000095_0001
A* refers to Plant Cell Reports, 20, 2001 , 610-615. Trends in Plant Science, 11 , 2006, 317-319. Plant Molecular Biology, 37, 1998, 287-296. MoI Gen Genet., 257, 1998, 606- 13.
B* refers to Plant Cell Reports, 6, 1987, 333-336.
In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant has the trait of improved fiber quality.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a cotton plant comprising the DP 104 B2RF event ("DP 104 B2RF- A new early maturing B2RF variety" presented at 2008 Beltwide Cotton Conferences by Tom R. Speed, Richard Sheetz, Doug Shoemaker, Monsanto /Delta and Pine Land, see http://www.monsanto.com/pdf/beltwide_08/dp104b2rf_doc.pdf.
In a further one preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants, plant propagation materials, or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant is a transgenic plant, which has two traits stacked, more preferably two or more traits selected from the group consisting of herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, fungal resistance, viral resistance, bacterial resistance, stress tolerance, maturation alteration, content modification and modified nutrient uptake, most preferably the combination of herbicide tolerance and insect resistance, two herbicide tolerances, herbicide tolerance and stress tolerance, herbicide tolerance and modified content, two herbicide tolerances and insect resistance, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance and stress tolerance, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance and modified content.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14.
In another more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA selected from endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is fipronil. In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant corresponds to a row of table 14 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-1 1 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14-23, T14-24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is endosulfan.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-1 1 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14-23, T14-24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is ethiprole.
In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-1 1 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14-23, T14-24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is fipronil.
In a utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of control- ling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-1 1 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14-23, T14- 24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is endosulfan. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-11 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14- 23, T14-24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is ethiprole. In another utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating plant propagation materials, preferably seeds of cultivated plants of cultivated crops with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from T14-1 , T14-2, T14-3, T14-4, T14-5, T14-6, T14-7, T14-8, T14-9, T14-10, T14-1 1 , T14-12, T14-13, T14-14, T14-15, T14-17, T14- 23, T14-24, T14-25, T14-26, T14-31 , T14-36 and T14-37 and the GABA is fipronil.
Figure imgf000098_0001
Figure imgf000099_0001
Figure imgf000100_0001
Figure imgf000101_0001
A* refers to US 5188642, US 4940835, US 5633435, US 5804425 and US 5627061. B* refers to imidazolinone-herbicide resistant rice plants with specific mutation of the acetohydroxyacid synthase gene: S653N (see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), S654K (see e.g. US 2003/0217381 ), A122T (see e.g. WO 2004/106529) S653(At)N, S654(At)K, A122(At)T and other resistant rice plants as described in WO 2000/27182, WO 2005/20673 and WO 2001/85970 or US patents US 5545822, US 5736629, US 5773703, US 5773704, US- 5952553, US 6274796, wherein plants with mutation S653A and A122T are most preferred. C* referes to WO 2000/04173, WO 2007/131699, US 20080229448 and WO 2005/48693.
D* refers to WO 1993/07278 and WO 1995/34656.
E* refers to WO 1996/26639, US 7329802, US 6472588 and WO 2001/17333. F* refers to sulfonylurea and imidazolinone herbicides, such as imazamox, imazethapyr, imazaquin, chlorimuron, flumetsulam, cloransulam, diclosulam and thifensulfuron.
G* refers to US 6380462, US 6365802, US 7294759 and US 7157621. H* refers to Plant Cell Reports, 20, 2001 , 610-615. Trends in Plant Science, 11 , 2006, 317-319. Plant Molecular Biology, 37, 1998, 287-296. MoI Gen Genet., 257, 1998, 606- 13. Federal Register (USA), Vol.60, No.1 13, 1995, page 31 139. Federal Register (U- SA), Vol.67, No.226, 2002, page 70392. Federal Register (USA), Vol.63, No.88, 1998, page 25194. Federal Register (USA), Vol.60, No.141 , 1995, page 37870. Canadian Food Inspection Agency, FD/OFB-095-264-A, October 1999, FD/OFB-099-127-A, October 1999. I* refers to Federal Register (USA), Vol. 61 , No.160, 1996, page 42581. Federal Register (USA), Vol. 63, No.204, 1998, page 56603.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are those methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is a transgenic plant which is selected from the plants listed in table A. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table A and the GABA compound is endosulfan. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table A and the GABA compound is ethiprole. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table A and the GABA compound is fipronil.
Another preferred embodiment of the invention are those methods of controlling harm- ful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is a transgenic plant which is selected from the plants listed in table B.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table B and the GABA compound is endosulfan. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table B and the GABA compound is ethiprole.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table B and the GABA compound is fipronil.
In another preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B- 46, B-47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B-46, B- 47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B and the GABA compound is endosulfan. In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B-46, B- 47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B and the GABA compound is ethiprole.
In a most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from B-3, B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8, B-11 , B-23, B-28,B-29, B-30, B-39, B-42, B-44, B-46, B- 47, B-55, B-59, B-61 , B-63, B-64, B-69, B-70, B-71 of table B and the GABA compound is fipronil.
Further preferred embodiments of the invention are those methods of controlling harm- ful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant expresses one or more genes selected from aad, ACCase, ALS, AMY797E, APH4, bar, barnase, barstar, bla, bxn, cDHDPS, CP, cmv-cp, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry1A.1 O5, Cry1 F, Cry1 Fa2, Cry2Ab, Cry34Ab1 , Cry35Ab1 , Cry3A, Cry3Bb1 , Cry9C, dam, DHFR, fad2, fan1 , FH, flcrylAb, GAT4601 , GAT4602, gmFAD2-1 , GM-HRA, goxv247, gus, hel, mCry3A, nos, NPTII, pat, PG, pinll, PMI, prsv-cp, QTPASE, rep, SAMase, spc, TE, vip3A, vip3A(a), wmv2- cp and zymv-cp.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the GABA compound is endosulfan and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from aad, ACCase, ALS, AMY797E, APH4, bar, barnase, barstar, bla, bxn, cDHDPS, CP, cmv-cp, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry1A.1O5, Cry1 F, Cry1 Fa2, Cry2Ab, Cry34Ab1 , Cry35Ab1 , Cry3A, Cry3Bb1 , Cry9C, dam, DHFR, fad2, fan1 , FH, flcrylAb, GAT4601 , GAT4602, gmFAD2-1 , GM- HRA, goxv247, gus, hel, mCry3A, nos, NPTII, pat, PG, pinll, PMI, prsv-cp, QTPASE, rep, SAMase, spc, TE, vip3A, vip3A(a), wmv2-cp and zymv-cp.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the GABA compound is ethiprole and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from aad, ACCase, ALS, AMY797E, APH4, bar, barnase, barstar, bla, bxn, cDHDPS, CP, cmv-cp, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry1A.1O5, Cry1 F, Cry1 Fa2, Cry2Ab, Cry34Ab1 , Cry35Ab1 , Cry3A, Cry3Bb1 , Cry9C, dam, DHFR, fad2, fan1 , FH, flcrylAb, GAT4601 , GAT4602, gmFAD2-1 , GM- HRA, goxv247, gus, hel, mCry3A, nos, NPTII, pat, PG, pinll, PMI, prsv-cp, QTPASE, rep, SAMase, spc, TE, vip3A, vip3A(a), wmv2-cp and zymv-cp.
In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, the GABA compound is fipronil and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from aad, ACCase, ALS, AMY797E, APH4, bar, barnase, barstar, bla, bxn, cDHDPS, CP, cmv-cp, CryiAb, Cry-IAc, Cry1A.1 O5, Cry1 F, Cry1 Fa2, Cry2Ab, Cry34Ab1 , Cry35Ab1 , Cry3A, Cry3Bb1 , Cry9C, dam, DHFR, fad2, fan1 , FH, flcryiAb, GAT4601 , GAT4602, gmFAD2-1 , GM- HRA, goxv247, gus, hel, mCry3A, nos, NPTII, pat, PG, pinll, PMI, prsv-cp, QTPASE, rep, SAMase, spc, TE, vip3A, vip3A(a), wmv2-cp and zymv-cp.
Further preferred embodiments of the invention are those methods of controlling harm- ful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant expresses one or more genes selected from CP4 epsps, pat, bar, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry3Bb1 , Cry2Ab, Cry1 F, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the GABA compound is endosulfan and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from CP4 epsps, pat, bar, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry3Bb1 , Cry2Ab, Cry1 F, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the GABA compound is ethiprole and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from CP4 epsps, pat, bar, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry3Bb1 , Cry2Ab, Cry1 F, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the GABA compound is fipronil and the plant expresses one or more genes selected from CP4 epsps, pat, bar, CrylAb, CryiAc, Cry3Bb1 , Cry2Ab, Cry1 F, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1.
Further preferred embodiments of the invention are those methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is a transgenic plant which is selected from the plants listed in table C. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table C and the GABA compound is endosulfan. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table C and the GABA compound is ethiprole. In a more preferred embodiment, the present invention relates of methods of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant is selected from the plants listed in table C and the GABA compound is fipronil.
Table C (source: Phillips McDougall AgriService, Seed Service May 2009)
No seed name crop company
C-1 Agrisure 3000GT corn Syngenta
C-2 Agrisure CB/LL corn Syngenta
C-3 Agrisure CB/LL/RW corn Syngenta
C-4 Agrisure GT corn Syngenta
C-5 Agrisure GT/CB/LL corn Syngenta
C-6 Agrisure GT/RW corn Syngenta
C-7 Agrisure RW corn Syngenta
C-8 Bollgard cotton Monsanto
C-9 Bollgard Il cotton Monsanto
C-10 Bollgard Il RR Flex Cotton cotton Monsanto
C-1 1 Bt-Xtra corn DeKaIb
C-12 Clearfield canola canola BASF
C-13 Clearfield corn corn BASF
C-14 Clearfield rice rice BASF
C-15 Clearfield sunflower sunflower BASF
C-16 Clearfield wheat wheat BASF
C-17 Herculex 1 corn Dow/Pioneer
C-18 Herculex Quad-Stack corn Dow/Pioneer
C-19 Herculex RW corn Dow/Pioneer
C-20 Herculex XTRA corn Dow/Pioneer
C-21 Herculex Xtra corn Dow/Pioneer
C-22 Knock Out corn Novartis
C-23 Liberty Link canola AgrEvo
C-24 Liberty Link corn Bayer
C-25 Liberty Link cotton Bayer
C-26 Maximiser corn Syngenta
C-27 Nature Guard D corn Dow
C-28 New Leaf Potato potato Monsanto
C-29 Optimum GAT corn DuPont
C-30 Optimum GAT cotton DuPont
C-31 Optimum GAT soybean DuPont
C-32 Poast Compatibel corn BASF
C-33 Roundup Ready 2 Yield canola Monsanto
C-34 Roundup Ready 2 Yield corn Monsanto
Figure imgf000106_0001
In an utmost preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of controlling harmful insects and/or increasing the health of cultivated plants by treating cultivated plants, parts of such plants or at their locus of growth with a GABA, wherein the plant and the GABA are selected as given in table D.
Table D
Figure imgf000106_0002
Figure imgf000107_0001
All emodiements of the GABA as defined above are also referred to herein after as GABA according to the present invention. They can also be converted into agrochemi- cal compositions comprising a solvent or solid carrier and at least one GABAs accord- ing to the present invention.
An agrochemical composition comprises an insecticidal and/or plant health effective amount of a GABAs according to the present invention. The term "effective amount" denotes an amount of the composition or of the GABAs according to the present invention, which is sufficient to achieve the synergistic effects related to fungal control and/or plant health and which does not result in a substantial damage to the treated plants. Such an amount can vary in a broad range and is dependent on various factors, such as the fungal species to be controlled, the treated cultivated plant or material, the climatic conditions.
Examples of agrochemical compositions are solutions, emulsions, suspensions, dusts, powders, pastes and granules. The composition type depends on the particular intended purpose; in each case, it should ensure a fine and uniform distribution of the compound according to the invention. More precise examples for composition types are suspensions (SC, OD, FS), pastes, pastilles, wettable powders or dusts (WP, SP, SS, WS, DP, DS) or granules (GR, FG, GG, MG), which can be water-soluble or wettable, as well as gel formulations for the treatment of plant propagation materials such as seeds (GF). Usually the composition types (e. g. SC, OD, FS, WG, SG, WP, SP, SS, WS, GF) are employed diluted. Composition types such as DP, DS, GR, FG, GG and MG are usually used undiluted.
The compositions are prepared in a known manner (cf. US 3,060,084, EP-A 707 445 (for liquid concentrates), Browning: "Agglomeration", Chemical Engineering, Dec. 4, 1967, 147-48, Perry's Chemical Engineer's Handbook, 4th Ed., McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1963, S. 8-57 und ff. WO 91/13546, US 4,172,714, US 4,144,050, US 3,920,442, US 5,180,587, US 5,232,701 , US 5,208,030, GB 2,095,558, US 3,299,566, Klingman: Weed Control as a Science (J. Wiley & Sons, New York, 1961 ), Hance et al.: Weed Control Handbook (8th Ed., Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, 1989) and Mollet, H. and Grubemann, A.: Formulation technology (Wiley VCH Verlag, Weinheim, 2001 ).
The agrochemical compositions may also comprise auxiliaries which are customary in agrochemical compositions. The auxiliaries used depend on the particular application form and active substance, respectively. Examples for suitable auxiliaries are solvents, solid carriers, dispersants or emulsifiers (such as further solubilizers, protective colloids, surfactants and adhesion agents), organic and anorganic thickeners, bactericides, anti-freezing agents, anti-foaming agents, if appropriate colorants and tackifiers or binders (e. g. for seed treatment formulations). Suitable solvents are water, organic solvents such as mineral oil fractions of medium to high boiling point, such as kerosene or diesel oil, furthermore coal tar oils and oils of vegetable or animal origin, aliphatic, cyclic and aromatic hydrocarbons, e. g. toluene, xylene, paraffin, tetrahydronaphthalene, alkylated naphthalenes or their derivatives, alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol and cyclohexanol, glycols, ketones such as cyclohexanone and gamma-butyrolactone, fatty acid dimethylamides, fatty acids and fatty acid esters and strongly polar solvents, e. g. amines such as N- methylpyrrolidone.
Solid carriers are mineral earths such as silicates, silica gels, talc, kaolins, limestone, lime, chalk, bole, loess, clays, dolomite, diatomaceous earth, calcium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, magnesium oxide, ground synthetic materials, fertilizers, such as, e. g., ammonium sulfate, ammonium phosphate, ammonium nitrate, ureas and products of vegetable origin, such as cereal meal, tree bark meal, wood meal and nutshell meal, cellulose powders and other solid carriers.
Suitable surfactants (adjuvants, wtters, tackifiers, dispersants or emulsifiers) are alkali metal, alkaline earth metal and ammonium salts of aromatic sulfonic acids, such as ligninsoulfonic acid (Borresperse® types, Borregard, Norway) phenolsulfonic acid, naphthalenesulfonic acid (Morwet® types, Akzo Nobel, U.S.A.), dibutylnaphthalene- sulfonic acid (Nekal® types, BASF, Germany), and fatty acids, alkylsulfonates, alkyl- arylsulfonates, alkyl sulfates, laurylether sulfates, fatty alcohol sulfates and sulfated hexa-, hepta- and octadecanolates, sulfated fatty alcohol glycol ethers, furthermore condensates of naphthalene or of naphthalenesulfonic acid with phenol and formaldehyde, polyoxy-ethylene octylphenyl ether, ethoxylated isooctylphenol, octylphenol, nonylphenol, alkylphenyl polyglycol ethers, tributylphenyl polyglycol ether, tristearyl- phenyl polyglycol ether, alkylaryl polyether alcohols, alcohol and fatty alcohol/ethylene oxide condensates, ethoxylated castor oil, polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers, ethoxylated polyoxypropylene, lauryl alcohol polyglycol ether acetal, sorbitol esters, lignin-sulfite waste liquors and proteins, denatured proteins, polysaccharides (e. g. methylcellulose), hydrophobically modified starches, polyvinyl alcohols (Mowiol® types, Clariant, Switzerland), polycarboxylates (Sokolan® types, BASF, Germany), polyalkoxylates, polyvi- nylamines (Lupasol® types, BASF, Germany), polyvinylpyrrolidone and the copolymers therof. Examples for thickeners (i. e. compounds that impart a modified flowability to composi- tions, i. e. high viscosity under static conditions and low viscosity during agitation) are polysaccharides and organic and anorganic clays such as Xanthan gum (Kelzan®, CP Kelco, U.S.A.), Rhodopol® 23 (Rhodia, France), Veegum® (RT. Vanderbilt, U.S.A.) or Attaclay® (Engelhard Corp., NJ, USA). Bactericides may be added for preservation and stabilization of the composition. Ex- amples for suitable bactericides are those based on dichlorophene and benzylalcohol hemi formal (Proxel® from ICI or Acticide® RS from Thor Chemie and Kathon® MK from Rohm & Haas) and isothiazolinone derivatives such as alkylisothiazolinones and benzisothiazolinones (Acticide® MBS from Thor Chemie). Examples for suitable anti-freezing agents are ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, urea and glycerin.
Examples for anti-foaming agents are silicone emulsions (such as e. g. Silikon® SRE, Wacker, Germany or Rhodorsil®, Rhodia, France), long chain alcohols, fatty acids, salts of fatty acids, fluoroorganic compounds and mixtures thereof. Suitable colorants are pigments of low water solubility and water-soluble dyes. Exam- pies to be mentioned und the designations rhodamin B, C. I. pigment red 112, C. I. solvent red 1 , pigment blue 15:4, pigment blue 15:3, pigment blue 15:2, pigment blue 15:1 , pigment blue 80, pigment yellow 1 , pigment yellow 13, pigment red 112, pigment red 48:2, pigment red 48:1 , pigment red 57:1 , pigment red 53:1 , pigment orange 43, pigment orange 34, pigment orange 5, pigment green 36, pigment green 7, pigment white 6, pigment brown 25, basic violet 10, basic violet 49, acid red 51 , acid red 52, acid red 14, acid blue 9, acid yellow 23, basic red 10, basic red 108. Examples for tackifiers or binders are polyvinylpyrrolidons, polyvinylacetates, polyvinyl alcohols and cellulose ethers (Tylose®, Shin-Etsu, Japan). Powders, materials for spreading and dusts can be prepared by mixing or conco- mitantly grinding the compounds I and, if appropriate, further active substances, with at least one solid carrier. Granules, e. g. coated granules, impregnated granules and homogeGABAus granules, can be prepared by binding the active substances to solid carriers. Examples of solid carriers are mineral earths such as silica gels, silicates, talc, kaolin, attaclay, limestone, lime, chalk, bole, loess, clay, dolomite, diatomaceous earth, calcium sulfate, magne- sium sulfate, magnesium oxide, ground synthetic materials, fertilizers, such as, e. g., ammonium sulfate, ammonium phosphate, ammonium nitrate, ureas and products of vegetable origin, such as cereal meal, tree bark meal, wood meal and nutshell meal, cellulose powders and other solid carriers.
Examples for composition types are:
1. Composition types for dilution with water i) Water-soluble concentrates (SL, LS)
10 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are dissolved in 90 parts by weight of water or in a water-soluble solvent. As an alternative, wetting agents or other auxiliaries are added. The active substance dissolves upon dilution with water.
In this way, a composition having a content of 10% by weight of active substance is obtained. ii) Dispersible concentrates (DC)
20 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are dissolved in 70 parts by weight of cyclohexanone with addition of 10 parts by weight of a dispersant, e. g. polyvinylpyrrolidone. Dilution with water gives a dispersion. The active substance content is 20% by weight. iii) Emulsifiable concentrates (EC)
15 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are dissolved in 75 parts by weight of xylene with addition of calcium dodecylbenzenesulfonate and castor
011 ethoxylate (in each case 5 parts by weight). Dilution with water gives an emulsion. The composition has an active substance content of 15% by weight. iv) Emulsions (EW, EO, ES)
25 parts by weight of GABAs according to the present invention are dissolved in 35 parts by weight of xylene with addition of calcium dodecylbenzenesulfonate and castor oil ethoxylate (in each case 5 parts by weight). This mixture is introduced into 30 parts by weight of water by means of an emulsifying machine (Ultraturrax) and made into a homogeGABAus emulsion. Dilution with water gives an emulsion. The composition has an active substance content of 25% by weight. v) Suspensions (SC, OD, FS)
In an agitated ball mill, 20 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are comminuted with addition of 10 parts by weight of dispersants and wetting agents and 70 parts by weight of water or an organic solvent to give a fine active substance suspension. Dilution with water gives a stable suspension of the active sub- stance. The active substance content in the composition is 20% by weight, vi) Water-dispersible granules and water-soluble granules (WG, SG) 50 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are ground finely with addition of 50 parts by weight of dispersants and wetting agents and prepared as water-dispersible or water-soluble granules by means of technical appliances (e. g. extrusion, spray tower, fluidized bed). Dilution with water gives a stable dispersion or solution of the active substance. The composition has an active substance content of 50% by weight. vii) Water-dispersible powders and water-soluble powders (WP, SP, SS, WS) 75 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are ground in a rotor- stator mill with addition of 25 parts by weight of dispersants, wetting agents and silica gel. Dilution with water gives a stable dispersion or solution of the active substance. The active substance content of the composition is 75% by weight, viii) Gel (GF)
In an agitated ball mill, 20 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are comminuted with addition of 10 parts by weight of dispersants, 1 part by weight of a gelling agent wetters and 70 parts by weight of water or of an organic solvent to give a fine suspension of the active substance. Dilution with water gives a stable suspension of the active substance, whereby a composition with 20% (w/w) of active substance is obtained. 2. Composition types to be applied undiluted ix) Dustable powders (DP, DS)
5 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are ground finely and mixed intimately with 95 parts by weight of finely divided kaolin. This gives a dustable composition having an active substance content of 5% by weight, x) Granules (GR, FG, GG, MG) 0.5 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention according to the invention is ground finely and associated with 99.5 parts by weight of carriers. Current methods are extrusion, spray-drying or the fluidized bed. This gives granules to be applied undiluted having an active substance content of 0.5% by weight, xi) ULV solutions (UL) 10 parts by weight of a GABAs according to the present invention are dissolved in 90 parts by weight of an organic solvent, e. g. xylene. This gives a composition to be applied undiluted having an active substance content of 10% by weight.
The agrochemical compositions generally comprise between 0.01 and 95%, preferably between 0.1 and 90%, most preferably between 0.5 and 90%, by weight of active substance. The active substances are employed in a purity of from 90% to 100%, preferably from 95% to 100% (according to NMR spectrum).
Water-soluble concentrates (LS), flowable concentrates (FS), powders for dry treatment (DS), water-dispersible powders for slurry treatment (WS), water-soluble powders (SS), emulsions (ES) emulsifiable concentrates (EC) and gels (GF) are usually employed for the purposes of treatment of plant propagation materials, particularly seeds. These compositions can be applied to plant propagation materials, particularly seeds, diluted or undiluted. The compositions in question give, after two-to-tenfold dilution, active substance concentrations of from 0.01 to 60% by weight, preferably from 0.1 to 40% by weight, in the ready-to-use preparations. Application can be carried out before or during sowing. Methods for applying or treating agrochemical compounds and com- positions thereof, respectively, on to plant propagation material, especially seeds, are known in the art and include dressing, coating, pelleting, dusting, soaking and in-furrow application methods of the propagation material. In a preferred embodiment, the compounds or the compositions thereof, respectively, are applied on to the plant propagation material by a method such that germination is not induced, e. g. by seed dressing, pelleting, coating and dusting.
In a preferred embodiment, a suspension-type (FS) composition is used for seed treatment. Typcially, a FS composition may comprise 1-800 g/l of active substance, 1-200 g/l Surfactant, 0 to 200 g/l antifreezing agent, 0 to 400 g/l of binder, 0 to 200 g/l of a pigment and up to 1 liter of a solvent, preferably water. The GABAs according to the present invention can be used as such or in the form of their compositions, e. g. in the form of directly sprayable solutions, powders, suspensions, dispersions, emulsions, oil dispersions, pastes, dustable products, materials for spreading, or granules, by means of spraying, atomizing, dusting, spreading, brushing, immersing or pouring. The application forms depend entirely on the intended purposes; it is intended to ensure in each case the finest possible distribution of the active substances according to the invention.
Aqueous application forms can be prepared from emulsion concentrates, pastes or wettable powders (sprayable powders, oil dispersions) by adding water. To prepare emulsions, pastes or oil dispersions, the substances, as such or dissolved in an oil or solvent, can be homogenized in water by means of a wetter, tackifier, dispersant or emulsifier. Alternatively, it is possible to prepare concentrates composed of active substance, wetter, tackifier, dispersant or emulsifier and, if appropriate, solvent or oil and such concentrates are suitable for dilution with water. The active substance concentrations in the ready-to-use preparations can be varied within relatively wide ranges. In general, they are from 0.0001 to 10%, preferably from 0.001 to 1 % by weight of active substance.
The active substances may also be used successfully in the ultra-low-volume process (ULV), it being possible to apply compositions comprising over 95% by weight of active substance, or even to apply the active substance without additives.
The amounts of active substances applied are, depending on the kind of effect desired, from 0.001 to 2 kg per ha, preferably from 0.005 to 2 kg per ha, more preferably from 0.05 to 0.9 kg per ha, in particular from 0.1 to 0.75 kg per ha. In treatment of plant propagation materials such as seeds, e. g. by dusting, coating or drenching seed, amounts of active substance of from 0.1 to 1000 g, preferably from 1 to 1000 g, more preferably from 1 to 100 g and most preferably from 5 to 100 g, per 100 kilogram of plant propagation material (preferably seed) are generally required. Various types of oils, wetters, adjuvants, herbicides, fungicides, bactericides, other insecticides and/or pesticides may be added to the active substances or the compositions comprising them, if appropriate not until immediately prior to use (tank mix). These agents can be admixed with the compositions according to the invention in a weight ratio of 1 :100 to 100:1 , preferably 1 :10 to 10:1.
Adjuvants which can be used are in particular organic modified polysiloxanes such as Break Thru S 240®; alcohol alkoxylates such as Atplus 245®, Atplus MBA 1303®, PIu- rafac LF 300® and Lutensol ON 30®; EO/PO block polymers, e. g. Pluronic RPE 2035® and Genapol B®; alcohol ethoxylates such as Lutensol XP 80®; and dioctyl sulfosuccinate sodium such as Leophen RA®.
The compositions according to the invention can, in the use form as insecticides, also be present together with other active substances, e. g. with herbicides, fungicides, growth regulators or else with fertilizers, as pre-mix or, if appropriate, not until im- meadiately prior to use (tank mix).
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the inventive mixtures are used for the pro- tection of the plant propagation material, e.g. the seeds and the seedlings' roots and shoots, preferably the seeds.
Seed treatment can be made into the seedbox before planting into the field.
For seed treatment purposes, the weight ration in the binary, ternary and quaternary mixtures of the present invention generally depends from the properties of the GABAs according to the present invention.
Compositions, which are especially useful for seed treatment are e.g.:
A Soluble concentrates (SL, LS)
D Emulsions (EW, EO, ES)
E Suspensions (SC, OD, FS)
F Water-dispersible granules and water-soluble granules (WG, SG) G Water-dispersible powders and water-soluble powders (WP, SP, WS)
H Gel-Formulations (GF)
I Dustable powders (DP, DS)
These compositions can be applied to plant propagation materials, particularly seeds, diluted or undiluted. These compositions can be applied to plant propagation materials, particularly seeds, diluted or undiluted. The compositions in question give, after two-to- tenfold dilution, active substance concentrations of from 0.01 to 60% by weight, pref- erably from 0.1 to 40% by weight, in the ready-to-use preparations. Application can be carried out before or during sowing. Methods for applying or treating agrochemical compounds and compositions thereof, respectively, on to plant propagation material, especially seeds, are known in the art and include dressing, coating, pelleting, dusting and soaking application methods of the propagation material (and also in furrow treatment). In a preferred embodiment, the compounds or the compositions thereof, respectively, are applied on to the plant propagation material by a method such that germination is not induced, e. g. by seed dressing, pelleting, coating and dusting.
In the treatment of plant propagation material (preferably seed), the application rates of the inventive mixture are generally for the formulated product (which usually comprises from10 to 750 g/l of the active(s).
The invention also relates to the propagation products of plants and especially the seed comprising, that is, coated with and/or containing, a mixture as defined above or a composition containing the mixture of two or more active ingredients or a mixture of two or more compositions each providing one of the active ingredients. The plant propagation material (preferably seed) comprises the inventive mixtures in an amount of from 0.1 g to 10 kg per 100 kg of plant propagation material (preferably seed).
The process of the present invention uses in one embodiment transgenic plants, parts thereof, cells or organelles.
For the purposes of the invention, "transgenic", "transgene" or "recombinant" means with regard to, for example, a nucleic acid sequence, an expression cassette, gene construct or a vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence or an organism transformed with the nucleic acid sequences, expression cassettes or vectors, all those constructions brought about by recombinant methods in which either
(a) the nucleic acid sequences encoding proteins useful in the methods of the invention, or (b) genetic control sequence(s) which is operably linked with the nucleic acid sequence according to the invention, for example a promoter, or (c) a) and b) are not located in their natural genetic environment or have been modified by recombinant methods, it being possible for the modification to take the form of, for example, a substitution, addition, deletion, inversion or insertion of one or more nucleotide residues. The natural genetic environment is understood as meaning the natural genomic or chromosomal locus in the original plant and can be deduced from the presence in a genomic library. In the case of a genomic library, the natural genetic environment of the nucleic acid sequence is preferably retained, at least in part. The environment flanks the nucleic acid sequence at least on one side and has a sequence length of at least 50 bp, preferably at least 500 bp, especially preferably at least 1000 bp, most preferably at least 5000 bp. A naturally occurring expression cassette - for example the natu- rally occurring combination of the natural promoter of the nucleic acid sequences with the corresponding nucleic acid sequence - becomes a transgenic expression cassette when this expression cassette is modified by non-natural, synthetic ("artificial") methods such as, for example, mutagenic treatment. Suitable methods are described, for example, in US 5565350 or WO 2000/15815.
A transgenic plant for the purposes of the invention is thus understood as meaning, as above, that the nucleic acids are not at their natural locus in the genome of said plant, it being possible for the nucleic acids to be expressed homologously or heterologously. However, as mentioned, transgenic also means that, while the nucleic acids are at their natural position in the genome of a plant, the sequence has been modified with regard to the natural sequence, and/or that the regulatory sequences of the natural sequences have been modified. Transgenic is preferably understood as meaning the expression of the nucleic acids at an unnatural locus in the genome, i.e. homologous or, prefera- bly, heterologous expression of the nucleic acids takes place. Preferred transgenic plants are mentioned herein.
These transgenic plants may be any listed in Table A, such as any of A-1 to A-156. Further, the transgenic plants used in the process of the invention may comprise as transgene any one or several of the genes listed in Table B.
However, the present inventive process is not limited to transgenic plants, and not to these transgenic plants. Other transgenic plants suitable for the process of the present invention may be generated by methods known in the art. In the following section exemplary methods to produce transgenic plants suitable fort the process of the present invention are exemplified in a non-limiting fashion. The person skilled in the art is well aware that the methods used to produce the transgenic plants are not critical for the use of such plants in working the present invention.
The term "introduction" or "transformation" as referred to herein encompasses the transfer of an exogenous polynucleotide into a host cell, irrespective of the method used for transfer. In particular with respect to transgenic plants "transformation" or "transformed" preferably refers to the transfer of an exogenous polynucleotide into a host cell, irrespective of the method used for transfer.
Transformation methods include the use of liposomes, electroporation, chemicals that increase free DNA uptake, injection of the DNA directly into the plant, particle gun bombardment, transformation using viruses or pollen and microprojection. Methods may be selected from the calcium/polyethylene glycol method for protoplasts (Krens, F.A. et al., (1982) Nature 296, 72-74; Negrutiu I et al. (1987) Plant MoI Biol 8: 363-373); electroporation of protoplasts (Shillito R.D. et al. (1985) Bio/Technol 3, 1099-1 102); microinjection into plant material (Crossway A et al., (1986) MoI. Gen Genet 202: 179- 185); DNA or RNA-coated particle bombardment (Klein TM et al., (1987) Nature 327: 70) infection with (non-integrative) viruses and the like. Transgenic plants, including transgenic crop plants, are preferably produced via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.
For example a suitable vector, e.g. a binary vector can be transformed into a suitable Agrobacterium strain e.g. LBA4044 according to methods well known in the art. Such a transformed Agrobacterium may then be used to transform plant cells, as disclosed in the following examples.
Example I: Plant transformation examples
Rice transformation
The Agrobacterium containing the expression vector is used to transform Oryza sativa plants. Mature dry seeds of the rice japonica cultivar Nipponbare are dehusked. Sterilization is carried out by incubating for one minute in 70% ethanol, followed by 30 minutes in 0.2% HgCb, followed by a 6 times 15 minutes ish with sterile distilled water. The sterile seeds are then germinated on a medium containing 2,4-D (callus induction medium). After incubation in the dark for four weeks, embryogenic, scutellum-derived calli are excised and propagated on the same medium. After two weeks, the calli are multiplied or propagated by subculture on the same medium for another 2 weeks. Embryogenic callus pieces are sub-cultured on fresh medium 3 days before co-cultivation (to boost cell division activity).
Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 containing the expression vector is used for co- cultivation. Agrobacterium is inoculated on AB medium with the appropriate antibiotics and cultured for 3 days at 28°C. The bacteria are then collected and suspended in liquid co-cultivation medium to a density (ODβoo) of about 1. The suspension is then transferred to a Petri dish and the calli immersed in the suspension for 15 minutes. The callus tissues are then blotted dry on a filter paper and transferred to solidified, co- cultivation medium and incubated for 3 days in the dark at 25°C. Co-cultivated calli are grown on 2,4-D-containing medium for 4 weeks in the dark at 28°C in the presence of a selection agent. During this period, rapidly growing resistant callus islands developed. After transfer of this material to a regeneration medium and incubation in the light, the embryogenic potential is released and shoots developed in the next four to five weeks. Shoots are excised from the calli and incubated for 2 to 3 weeks on an auxin- containing medium from which they are transferred to soil. Hardened shoots are grown under high humidity and short days in a greenhouse.
Approximately 35 independent TO rice transformants are generated for one construct. The primary transformants are transferred from a tissue culture chamber to a greenhouse. After a quantitative PCR analysis to verify copy number of the T-DNA insert, only single copy transgenic plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent are kept for harvest of T1 seed. Seeds are then harvested three to five months after transplant- ing. The method yielded single locus transformants at a rate of over 50 % (Aldemita and Hodges1996, Chan et al. 1993, Hiei et al. 1994).
Approximately 35 independent TO rice transformants are generated. The primary transformants are transferred from a tissue culture chamber to a greenhouse for grow- ing and harvest of T1 seed. Six events, of which the T1 progeny segregated 3:1 for presence/absence of the transgene, are retained. For each of these events, approximately 10 T1 seedlings containing the transgene (hetero- and homo-zygotes) and approximately 10 T1 seedlings lacking the transgene (nullizygotes) are selected by monitoring visual marker expression.
Corn transformation
Transformation of maize (Zea mays) is performed with a modification of the method described by lshida et al. (1996) Nature Biotech 14(6): 745-50. Transformation is genotype-dependent in corn and only specific genotypes are amenable to transformation and regeneration. The inbred line A188 (University of Minnesota) or hybrids with A188 as a parent are good sources of donor material for transformation, but other genotypes can be used successfully as well. Ears are harvested from corn plant approximately 11 days after pollination (DAP) when the length of the immature embryo is about 1 to 1.2 mm. Immature embryos are cocultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing the expression vector, and transgenic plants are recovered through organogenesis. Excised embryos are grown on callus induction medium, then maize regeneration medium, containing the selection agent (for example imidazolinone but various selection markers can be used). The Petri plates are incubated in the light at 25 0C for 2-3 weeks, or until shoots develop. The green shoots are transferred from each embryo to maize rooting medium and incubated at 25 0C for 2-3 weeks, until roots develop. The rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.
Wheat transformation
Transformation of wheat is performed with the method described by lshida et al. (1996) Nature Biotech 14(6): 745-50. The cultivar Bobwhite (available from CIMMYT, Mexico) is commonly used in transformation. Immature embryos are co-cultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing the expression vector, and transgenic plants are recov- ered through organogenesis. After incubation with Agrobacterium, the embryos are grown in vitro on callus induction medium, then regeneration medium, containing the selection agent (for example imidazolinone but various selection markers can be used). The Petri plates are incubated in the light at 25 0C for 2-3 weeks, or until shoots develop. The green shoots are transferred from each embryo to rooting medium and in- cubated at 25 0C for 2-3 weeks, until roots develop. The rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert. Soybean transformation
Soybean is transformed according to a modification of the method described in the Texas A&M patent US 5,164,310. Several commercial soybean varieties are amenable to transformation by this method. The cultivar Jack (available from the Illinois Seed foundation) is commonly used for transformation. Soybean seeds are sterilised for in vitro sowing. The hypocotyl, the radicle and one cotyledon are excised from seven-day old young seedlings. The epicotyl and the remaining cotyledon are further grown to develop axillary nodes. These axillary nodes are excised and incubated with Agrobac- terium tumefaciens containing the expression vector. After the cocultivation treatment, the explants are ished and transferred to selection media. Regenerated shoots are excised and placed on a shoot elongation medium. Shoots no longer than 1 cm are placed on rooting medium until roots develop. The rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.
Rapeseed/canola transformation
Cotyledonary petioles and hypocotyls of 5-6 day old young seedling are used as ex- plants for tissue culture and transformed according to Babic et al. (1998, Plant Cell Rep 17: 183-188). The commercial cultivar Westar (Agriculture Canada) is the standard variety used for transformation, but other varieties can also be used. Canola seeds are surface-sterilized for in vitro sowing. The cotyledon petiole explants with the cotyledon attached are excised from the in vitro seedlings, and inoculated with Agrobacterium (containing the expression vector) by dipping the cut end of the petiole explant into the bacterial suspension. The explants are then cultured for 2 days on MSBAP-3 medium containing 3 mg/l BAP, 3 % sucrose, 0.7 % Phytagar at 23 0C, 16 hr light. After two days of co-cultivation with Agrobacterium, the petiole explants are transferred to MSBAP-3 medium containing 3 mg/l BAP, cefotaxime, carbenicillin, or timentin (300 mg/l) for 7 days, and then cultured on MSBAP-3 medium with cefotaxime, carbenicillin, or timentin and selection agent until shoot regeneration. When the shoots are 5 - 10 mm in length, they are cut and transferred to shoot elongation medium (MSBAP-0.5, containing 0.5 mg/l BAP). Shoots of about 2 cm in length are transferred to the rooting medium (MSO) for root induction. The rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.
Alfalfa transformation
A regenerating clone of alfalfa {Medicago sativa) is transformed using the method of (McKersie et al., 1999 Plant Physiol 1 19: 839-847). Regeneration and transformation of alfalfa is genotype dependent and therefore a regenerating plant is required. Methods to obtain regenerating plants have been described. For example, these can be selected from the cultivar Rangelander (Agriculture Canada) or any other commercial alfalfa variety as described by Brown DCW and A Atanassov (1985. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Culture 4: 11 1-112). Alternatively, the RA3 variety (University of Wisconsin) has been selected for use in tissue culture (Walker et al., 1978 Am J Bot 65:654-659). Petiole explants are cocultivated with an overnight culture of Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58C1 pMP90 (McKersie et al., 1999 Plant Physiol 119: 839-847) or LBA4404 containing the expression vector. The explants are cocultivated for 3 d in the dark on SH induction medium containing 288 mg/ L Pro, 53 mg/ L thioproline, 4.35 g/ L K2SO4, and 100 μm acetosyringinone. The explants are ished in half-strength Murashige- Skoog medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) and plated on the same SH induction medium without acetosyringinone but with a suitable selection agent and suitable antibiotic to inhibit Agrobacterium growth. After several weeks, somatic embryos are transferred to BOi2Y development medium containing no growth regulators, no antibiotics, and 50 g/ L sucrose. Somatic embryos are subsequently germinated on half-strength Murashige-Skoog medium. Rooted seedlings are transplanted into pots and grown in a greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.
Cotton transformation
Cotton is transformed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens according to the method de- scribed in US 5,159,135. Cotton seeds are surface sterilised in 3% sodium hypochlorite solution during 20 minutes and ished in distilled water with 500 μg/ml cefotaxime. The seeds are then transferred to SH-medium with 50μg/ml benomyl for germination. Hypocotyls of 4 to 6 days old seedlings are removed, cut into 0.5 cm pieces and are placed on 0.8% agar. An Agrobacterium suspension (approx. 108 cells per ml, diluted from an overnight culture transformed with the gene of interest and suitable selection markers) is used for inoculation of the hypocotyl explants. After 3 days at room temperature and lighting, the tissues are transferred to a solid medium (1.6 g/l Gelrite) with Murashige and Skoog salts with B5 vitamins (Gamborg et al., Exp. Cell Res. 50:151- 158 (1968)), 0.1 mg/l 2,4-D, 0.1 mg/l 6-furfurylaminopurine and 750 μg/ml MgCL2, and with 50 to 100 μg/ml cefotaxime and 400-500 μg/ml carbenicillin to kill residual bacteria. Individual cell lines are isolated after two to three months (with subcultures every four to six weeks) and are further cultivated on selective medium for tissue amplification (300C, 16 hr photoperiod). Transformed tissues are subsequently further cultivated on non-selective medium during 2 to 3 months to give rise to somatic embryos. Healthy looking embryos of at least 4 mm length are transferred to tubes with SH medium in fine vermiculite, supplemented with 0.1 mg/l indole acetic acid, 6 furfurylaminopurine and gibberellic acid. The embryos are cultivated at 300C with a photoperiod of 16 hrs, and plantlets at the 2 to 3 leaf stage are transferred to pots with vermiculite and nutrients. The plants are hardened and subsequently moved to the greenhouse for further cultivation. #
Arabidopsis Plant Transformation Approximately 30-60 ng of prepared vector and a defined amount of prepared ampli- ficate are mixed and hybridized at 65°C for 15 minutes followed by 37°C 0,1 °C/1 seconds, followed by 37°C 10 minutes, followed by 0,1 °C/1 seconds, then 4-10 0C.
The ligated constructs are transformed in the same reaction vessel by addition of competent E. coli cells (strain DH5alpha) and incubation for 20 minutes at 1 °C followed by a heat shock for 90 seconds at 42°C and cooling to 1-4°C. Then, complete medium (SOC) is added and the mixture is incubated for 45 minutes at 37°C. The entire mixture is subsequently plated onto an agar plate with 0.05 mg/ml kanamycine and incubated overnight at 37°C. The outcome of the cloning step is verified by amplification with the aid of primers which bind upstream and downstream of the integration site, thus allowing the amplification of the insertion. The amplifications are carried out as described in the protocol of Taq DNA polymerase (Gibco-BRL).
The amplification cycles are as follows:
1 cycle of 1-5 minutes at 94°C, followed by 35 cycles of in each case 15-60 seconds at 94°C, 15-60 seconds at 50-660C and 5-15 minutes at 72°C, followed by 1 cycle of 10 minutes at 72°C, then 4-16°C.
Several colonies are checked, but only one colony for which a PCR product of the expected size is detected is used in the following steps.
A portion of this positive colony is transferred into a reaction vessel filled with complete medium (LB) supplemented with kanamycin and incubated overnight at 37°C.
The plasmid preparation is carried out as specified in the Qiaprep or NucleoSpin Multi-96 Plus standard protocol (Qiagen or Macherey-Nagel).
Generation of transgenic plants
1-5 ng of the plasmid DNA isolated is transformed by electroporation or transformation into competent cells of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, of strain GV 3101 pMP90 (Koncz and Schell, MoI. Gen. Gent. 204, 383 (1986)). Thereafter, complete medium (YEP) is added and the mixture is transferred into a fresh reaction vessel for 3 hours at 28°C. Thereafter, all of the reaction mixture is plated onto YEP agar plates supplemented with the respective antibiotics, e.g. rifampicine (0.1 mg/ml), gentamycine (0.025 mg/ml and kanamycine (0.05 mg/ml) and incubated for 48 hours at 28°C.
The agrobacteria that contains the plasmid construct are then used for the transfor- mation of plants.
A colony is picked from the agar plate with the aid of a pipette tip and taken up in 3 ml of liquid TB medium, which also contained suitable antibiotics as described above. The preculture is grown for 48 hours at 28°C and 120 rpm. 400 ml of LB medium containing the same antibiotics as above are used for the main culture. The preculture is transferred into the main culture. It is grown for 18 hours at 28°C and 120 rpm. After centrifugation at 4 000 rpm, the pellet is resuspended in infiltration medium (MS medium, 10% sucrose).
In order to grow the plants for the transformation, dishes (Piki Saat 80, green, provided with a screen bottom, 30 x 20 x 4.5 cm, from Wiesauplast, Kunststofftechnik, Germany) are half-filled with a GS 90 substrate (standard soil, Werkverband E. V., Germany). The dishes are watered overnight with 0.05% Proplant solution (Chimac- Apriphar, Belgium). Arabidopsis thaliana C24 seeds (Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre, UK; NASC Stock N906) are scattered over the dish, approximately 1 000 seeds per dish. The dishes are covered with a hood and placed in the stratification facility (8 h, 1 10 μmol/m2s1 , 22°C; 16 h, dark, 6°C). After 5 days, the dishes are placed into the short-day controlled environment chamber (8 h, 130 μmol/m2s1 , 22°C; 16 h, dark, 200C), where they remained for approximately 10 days until the first true leaves had formed.
The seedlings are transferred into pots containing the same substrate (Teku pots, 7 cm, LC series, manufactured by Poppelmann GmbH & Co, Germany). Five plants are pricked out into each pot. The pots are then returned into the short-day controlled environment chamber for the plant to continue growing.
After 10 days, the plants are transferred into the greenhouse cabinet (supplementary illumination, 16 h, 340 μE/m2s, 22°C; 8 h, dark, 200C), where they are allowed to grow for further 17 days.
For the transformation, 6-week-old Arabidopsis plants, which had just started flowering are immersed for 10 seconds into the above-described agrobacterial suspension which had previously been treated with 10 μl Silwett L77 (Crompton S.A., Osi Specialties, Switzerland). The method in question is described by Clough J. C. and Bent A.F. (Plant J. 16, 735 (1998)). The plants are subsequently placed for 18 hours into a humid chamber. Thereafter, the pots are returned to the greenhouse for the plants to continue growing. The plants remained in the greenhouse for another 10 weeks until the seeds are ready for harvesting.
Depending on the resistance marker used for the selection of the transformed plants the harvested seeds are planted in the greenhouse and subjected to a spray selection or else first sterilized and then grown on agar plates supplemented with the respective selection agent. Since the vector contained the bar gene as the resistance marker, plantlets are sprayed four times at an interval of 2 to 3 days with 0.02 % BASTA® and transformed plants are allowed to set seeds. The seeds of the transgenic A. thaliana plants are stored in the freezer (at -200C).
Example II: Application of a GABA compound selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, vaniliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5- amino-1 -(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4-sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide.
11. A Seed Treatments Control and cultivated corn seeds of the T2 generation are treated with deionized water (Blank), 10 grams to 200 grams of a GABA; all formulation rates are grams /100 kg seed. Every formulation is applied to approximately 80 seeds. The formulation is pipetted into a 125 ml flask along the sides and bottom of the flask before adding the seeds and shaking the flask for 30 seconds. The coated seeds are then removed from the flask and placed in a plastic dish for drying.
Seventy-five 3-L pots per treatment are filled with potting media, labeled with colored stakes, and given a unique barcode. One seed per pot is planted at a depth of approximately 2 cm and covered with media. The media is lightly watered to imbibe the seeds, while allowing for ample oxygen exchange and so that the chemical coatings on the seeds remained intact. After planting, the pots are randomly distributed into three replicate blocks (1 bench = 1 block), each with 25 plants of every treatment.
The plants are maintained in a greenhouse under optimal, well-watered conditions (80- 90% field capacity) upon emergence. Supplemental nutrients are administered every third day during watering. The greenhouse temperature is maintained at 300C, relative humidity at 75%, and light at 350 μmol nτ2s"1, in a 15-hour day / 9-hour night photope- riod. Supplemental lighting is provided using metal-halide lights. Once per week, the pots are randomly mixed within each block.
On day 21 , the plants are imaged to collect the phenotypic data as described in the WO2008/129060.
I 1. B Plant Treatments
The cultivation of plants, their treatment with insecticides and the evaluation of the in- secticidal activitiy is known for experts in the field. The treatment of plants with GABA antagonists and the determination of infection after treatment is described for example in EP 02951 17, DE 1015797, US 2799685, US 2732409, EP 0967206, GB 810602, US 2934470, JP 2669538, 5700460 and ZA 88/04179.
III. Evaluation 111. A Evaluation procedure of rice plants subject to the process of the present invention
1 Evaluation setup
The cultivated plants and the corresponding controls are grown side-by-side at random positions. Greenhouse conditions are of shorts days (12 hours light), 28°C in the light and 22°C in the dark, and a relative humidity of 70%. Plants grown under non-stress conditions are watered at regular intervals to ensure that water and nutrients are not limiting and to satisfy plant needs to complete growth and development.
From the stage of sowing until the stage of maturity the plants are passed several times through a digital imaging cabinet. At each time point digital images (2048x1536 pixels, 16 million colours) are taken of each plant from at least 6 different angles.
2 Statistical analysis: F test A two factor ANOVA (analysis of variants) is used as a statistical model for the overall evaluation of plant phenotypic characteristics. An F test is carried out on all the parameters measured of all the plants of all the. The threshold for significance for a true global gene effect is set at a 5% probability level for the F test.
3 Parameters measured Biomass-related parameter measurement
From the stage of sowing until the stage of maturity the plants are passed several times through a digital imaging cabinet. At each time point digital images (2048x1536 pixels, 16 million colours) are taken of each plant from at least 6 different angles. The plant aboveground area (or leafy biomass) is determined by counting the total number of pixels on the digital images from aboveground plant parts discriminated from the background. This value is averaged for the pictures taken on the same time point from the different angles and is converted to a physical surface value expressed in square mm by calibration. Experiments show that the aboveground plant area measured this way correlates with the biomass of plant parts above ground. The above ground area is the area measured at the time point at which the plant had reached its maximal leafy biomass. The early vigour is the plant (seedling) aboveground area three weeks post-germination. Increase in root biomass is expressed as an increase in total root biomass (measured as maximum biomass of roots observed during the lifespan of a plant); or as an increase in the root/shoot index (measured as the ratio be- tween root mass and shoot mass in the period of active growth of root and shoot).
Early vigour is determined by counting the total number of pixels from aboveground plant parts discriminated from the background. This value is averaged for the pictures taken on the same time point from different angles and is converted to a physical sur- face value expressed in square mm by calibration. Seed-related parameter measurements
The mature primary panicles are harvested, counted, bagged, barcode-labelled and then dried for three days in an oven at 37°C. The panicles are then threshed and all the seeds are collected and counted. The filled husks are separated from the empty ones using an air-blowing device. The empty husks are discarded and the remaining fraction is counted again. The filled husks are weighed on an analytical balance. The number of filled seeds is determined by counting the number of filled husks that remained after the separation step. The total seed yield is measured by weighing all filled husks har- vested from a plant. Total seed number per plant is measured by counting the number of husks harvested from a plant. Thousand Kernel Weight (TKW) is extrapolated from the number of filled seeds counted and their total weight. The Harvest Index (HI) in the present invention is defined as the ratio between the total seed yield and the above ground area (mm2), multiplied by a factor 106. The total number of flowers per panicle as defined in the present invention is the ratio between the total number of seeds and the number of mature primary panicles. The seed fill rate as defined in the present invention is the proportion (expressed as a %) of the number of filled seeds over the total number of seeds (or florets).
Example III:B:
Evaluation procedure of Arabidopsis plants subject to the process of the present invention
Plant screening for yield increase under standardised growth conditions
In this experiment, a plant screening for yield increase (in this case: biomass yield in- crease) under standardised growth conditions in the absence of substantial abiotic stress can be performed. In a standard experiment soil is prepared as 3.5:1 (v/v) mixture of nutrient rich soil (GS90, Tantau, Wansdorf, Germany) and quarz sand. Alternatively, plants can be sown on nutrient rich soil (GS90, Tantau, Germany). Pots can be filled with soil mixture and placed into trays. Water can be added to the trays to let the soil mixture take up appropriate amount of water for the sowing procedure. The seeds for transgenic A. thaliana plants and their controls for example non-trangenic wild-type can be sown in pots (6cm diameter). Stratification can be established for a period of 3- 4 days in the dark at 4°C-5°C. Germination of seeds and growth can be initiated at a growth condition of 200C, and approx. 60% relative humidity, 16h photoperiod and NIu- mination with fluorescent light at approximately 200 μmol/m2s. In case the transgenic seed are not uniformly transgenic a selection step can be performed, e.g. BASTA selection. This can be done at day 10 or day 11 (9 or 10 days after sowing) by spraying pots with plantlets from the top. In the standard experiment, a 0.07% (v/v) solution of BASTA concentrate (183 g/l glufosinate-ammonium) in tap wa- ter can be sprayed once or, alternatively, a 0.02% (v/v) solution of BASTA can be sprayed three times. The wild-type control plants can be sprayed with tap water only (instead of spraying with BASTA dissolved in tap water) but can be otherwise treated identically.
Plants can be individualized 13-14 days after sowing by removing the surplus of seedlings and leaving one seedling in soil. Transgenic events and control plants can be evenly distributed over the chamber. Watering can be carried out every two days after removing the covers in a standard experiment or, alternatively, every day.
Treatment with formulations of active ingredients can be performed as described in this application or by any known method. For measuring biomass performance, plant fresh weight can be determined at harvest time (24-29 days after sowing) by cutting shoots and weighing them. Plants can be in the stage prior to flowering and prior to growth of inflorescence when harvested. Transgenic plants can be compared to the non-transgenic wild- control plants, which can be harvested at the same day. Significance values for the statistical significance of the biomass changes can be calculated by applying the 'student's' t test (parameters: two-sided, unequal variance).
Two different types of experimental procedures are performed: -Procedure 1 ). Per transgenic construct 3-4 independent transgenic lines (=events) are tested (22-30 plants per construct) and biomass performance can be evaluated as described above.
-Procedure 2.) Up to five lines per transgenic construct can be tested in successive experimental levels (up to 4). Only constructs that displayed positive performance are subjected to the next experimental level. Usually in the first level five plants per construct can be tested and in the subsequent levels 30-60 plants can be tested. Biomass performance can be evaluated as described above. Data from this type of experiment (Procedure 2) are shown for constructs that displayed increased biomass performance in at least two successive experimental levels.
Biomass production can be measured by weighing plant rosettes. Biomass increase can be calculated as ratio of average weight of transgenic plants compared to average weight of control plants from the same experiment. The mean biomass increase of transgenics can be given (significance value < 0.3 and biomass increase > 5% (ratio > 1.05)).
Seed yield can be measured by collecting all seed form a plant and measuring the thousand kernel weight. Various methods are known in the art.
IV. Results:
The cultivated plants treated according to the method of the invention show increased plant health. V. Evaluation procedure of plants subject to the process of the present invention
SOJA
Soybeans were grown in 2005 at Renascenga in the Parana region, Brazil. The soybean variety CD202 was planted at a seeding rate of 12 plants per m in a row. Row spacing was 40 cm. Plot size was 30 m2.
Fipronil was applied as a seed treatment as the commercially available flowable concentrate (REGENT 250 FS) containing 250 g active ingredient per liter with a product rate of 100 and 200 ml per 100 kg of seed.
Emergence was assessed by counting the number of plants per 1 m in the row. In addition, the trial was harvested and the grain yield was measured (Tab. V-1 ).
Tab. V-1 : Effect of Fipronil on crop emergence and yield
Figure imgf000126_0001
As shown in table V-1 Fipronil improves the emergence of soybeans. In addition the treatment with Fipronil results in an increase in grain yield compared to the untreated control. The improvement for emergence (increased plants per m row) and the increase in grain yield is bigger when treating the transgenic glyphosate tolerant soybean variety.The increase in both parameters is bigger than can be expected from the combination of the effect of the Fipronil treatment in the conventional variety shown here and the glyphosate tolerance trait.
Hence, synergistic effects for crop emergence or plant density and grain yield can be observed in the combination of the Fipronil treatment with a herbicide tolerance trait.
RICE
Rice was grown in 2006 at Sinop, Mato Grosso, Brazil. The variety Primavera was planted at a row spacing of 45 cm. Plot size was 18 m2. Treatments were replicated 4 times.
Fipronil was applied as a seed treatment as the commercially available flowable concentrate (REGENT 250 FS) containing 250 g active ingredient per liter with a product rate of 150 and 200 ml per 100 kg of seed.
Plant Density (Tab. V-2) was assessed 31 days after planting by counting the plants on an area of 1.8 m2 Tab. V-2: Effect of Fipronil on crop stand
Figure imgf000127_0001
As shown in table V-2 Fipronil increased plant density which can be accounted for an improved crop emergence. It also indicates the insecticidal activity of the Fipronil seed treatment.
The increase in Plant density is bigger when treating an herbicide tolerant variety (Clearfield™) than in a conventional variety. The increase that can be observed in the herbicide tolerant variety cannot be explained by the effects of the Fipronl treatment in a conventional rice variety and the herbicide tolerance and insect resistance traits alone.
Hence, synergistic effects for insect control, crop emergence, root growth and grain yield can be observed in the combination of the Fipronil treatment with herbicide tolerance and/or insect tolerance traits.
COTTON
Cotton was grown in 2005 at the Fazenda Santa Luzia in Sao Raimundo das Mangab, Maranhao, Brazil. The variety Delta Opal was planted with 10 seeds per m at row spacing of 90 cm. Plot size was 12 m2. Treatments were replicated 4 times.
Fipronil was applied as a seed treatment as the commercially available flowable concentrate (REGENT 250 FS) containing 250 g active ingredient per liter with a product rate of 300 ml per 100 kg of seed.
12 days after planting the infestation with Elasmopalpus lignosellus by evaluating the infestation of plants per 9 m2.
Plant Density (Tab. V-3) was assessed 37 days after planting by counting the plants on an area of 9 m2. At the same time the root length was measured on 4 plants per plot (Tab. V-3).
At maturity, open bolls of the plants were harvested and the cotton seed yield was measured in the first trial (Tab. V-3).
Tab. V-3: Effect of Fipronil on Elasmopalpus (ELASLI) infestation, plant density, root length and yield
Figure imgf000127_0002
The Fipronil treatment results in an increase in grain yield compared to the untreated control. Compared to the conventional variety the increase in yield in the herbicide tolerant, insect resistant variety is bigger than can be expected from the effects of the Fipronl treatment in the conventional variety Delta Opal and the herbicide tolerance and insect resistance (Bt) traits in the herbicide tolerant Bt variety on yield.
As shown in table V-3 Fipronil increased plant density which can be accounted for an improved crop emergence and root length.
The increase in both parameters is bigger when treating a Roundup Ready Bt variety than in a conventional variety. The increase that can be observed in the herbicide tol- erant and/or insect tolerant variety cannot be explained by the effects of the Fipronl treatment in a conventional cotton variety and the herbicide tolerance and insect resistance traits alone. Similarly, the activity of Fipronil against Elasmopalpus shown in table 3 is bigger when treating a herbicide and insect tolerant transgenic cotton cultivar. Hence, synergistic effects for insect control, crop emergence, root growth and grain yield can be observed in the combination of the Fipronil treatment with herbicide tolerance and/or insect tolerance traits.

Claims

Claims
1. A method for controlling pests and/or increasing the plant health of a cultivated plant as compared to the respective control, comprising the application of a pesticide to a plant with at least one modification, parts of such plant, plant propagation material, or at its locus of growth, wherein the pesticide is selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole, fipronil, dienochlor, va- niliprole, pyrafluprole, pyriprole and 5-amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-methyl-phenyl)-4- sulfinamoyl-1 H-pyrazole-3-carbothioic acid amide.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pesticide is selected from the group consisting of endosulfan, ethiprole and fipronil.
3. The method according to anyone of claims 1 or 2, wherein, "increased plant health" is to be understood as an increase, compared to the respective control, in a trait selected from the group consisting of yield, plant vigor, early vigour, greening effect, quality, tolerance to environmental stress, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, fungal resistance or viral resistance or bacterial resistance, antibiotic resistance, content of fine chemicals advantageous for applications in the field of the food and/or feed industry, the cosmetics industry or the pharmaceutical industry, nutrient use efficiency, nutrient use uptake, fiber quality, color and male sterility and/or "increased plant health" is to be understood as an alteration or modification, compared to the respective control, in a trait selected from the group consisting of maturation, fertility restoration and color.
4. The method according claims 1 or 2, wherein, wherein the cultivated plant shows at least one of the properties: herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, fungal resistance or viral resistance or bacterial resistance, stress tolerance, maturation alteration, content modification of chemicals present in the cultivated plant, modified nutrient uptake, antibiotic resistance and male sterility compared to the corresponding control plant respectively.
5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the plant is tolerant to the action of herbicides.
6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plant is tolerant to the action of glyphosate.
7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plant is tolerant to the action of glufosinate.
8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plant is tolerant to the action of imidazolinone-herbicides.
9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plant is tolerant to the action of dicamba.
10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plant is capable of synthesizing at least one selectively acting toxins derived from the bacterial Bacillus spp..
1 1. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plant is capable of synthesizing at least one selectively acting toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis.
12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plant is capable of synthesizing one or more selectively acting delta-endotoxins toxins from Ba- cillus thuringiensis.
13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the pesticide is applied to the plant propagation material of the cultivated plant.
14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the treatment(s) are carried out by applying at least one pesticide to the plant with at least one modification or to their habitat.
15. Seed of a cultivated plant as defined in any one of claims 3 to 12 with at least one property as defined in claim 3 or 4 which is treated with a pesticide as defined in claim 1 or 2.
16. A composition comprising a pesticide as defined in claim 1 or 2 and a cultivated plant or parts or cells thereof.
17. A method according to any one of the claims 1 to 14, the seed of claim 15 or the composition of claim 16, wherein the cultivated plant is a transgenic plant.
18. A method according to any one of the claims 1 to 14, a seed as defined in claim 15 or a composition as defined in claim 16, wherein the cultivated plant is a modified plant.
19. A method for the production of an agricultural product comprising the applica- tion of a pesticide as defined in claims 1 or 2 to a cultivated plant with at least one modification, parts of such plant, plant propagation materials, or to its locus of growth, and producing the agricultural product from said plant or parts of such plant or plant propagation material.
20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the plant is defined as in any one of claims 3, 5 to 12, 17 or 18.
21. Use of a composition as defined in claim 16 for the production of an agricultural product.
22. Use of a pesticide as defined in claim 1 or 2 for controlling pests and/or increasing the plant health of a cultivated plant as compared to the respective control.
23. Use of a pesticide as defined in claim 1 or 2 for controlling pests and/or increasing the plant health of a transgenic plant as compared to the respective control.
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