EP-4735470-A1 - SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR NEGATIVE PRESSURE GRAIN IMBIBITION

Abstract

The present disclosure relates in general to the imbibition of grains for the agronomic, horticulture, animal feed, and malting industries. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for overcoming individual differences in grain morphology using negative pressure to achieve a uniform rate at which grains absorb water, nutrients, and additives from the surrounding environment to increase the productivity, efficiency, and economics of industries that rely on grain germination and seedling development to produce a product. The application of negative pressure to grains in aqueous solutions containing plant additives such as phytohormones has been found to reduce seedling-to-seedling developmental variability, hydration variability, and the concentration of phytohormones needed to achieve improved germination rates, the mobilization of starches, and the uniform development rate of seedlings.

Inventors

• JENKINS, Shawn, D.

Assignees

• Smart Sprouts International LLC

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20240628

Claims (1)

1. What is claimed is: Claim 1 : A method for increasing the effects of phytohormones on grains, comprising: forming a solution having a chosen concentration of at least one phytohormone in water; contacting the grains with the solution; reducing the pressure over the grains and the solution to a first selected value; and maintaining the reduced pressure for a first chosen time period. Claim 2: The method of claim 1, wherein the grains are chosen from barley, wheat, com, sorghum, rice, oats, rye, and triticale, and mixtures thereof. Claim 3 : The method of claim 2, wherein the grains comprise Winner hard red winter wheat seedlings. Claim 4: The method of claim 1, wherein the phytohormones are chosen from gibberellins, auxins, cytokinins, abscisic acid, ethylene, and mixtures thereof. Claim 5: The method of claim 4, wherein the cytokinins comprise thidiazuron. Claim 6: The method of claim 4, wherein the auxins comprise 1- N aphthal eneacetami de . Claim 7: The method of claim 4, wherein the gibberellins comprise gibberellic acid (GA 3 ). Claim 8: The method of claim 1, wherein the reduced pressure is about 20 inches of Hg, and the first chosen time period is between about 150 min. and about 180 min. Claim 9: The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: increasing the pressure to atmospheric pressure after said step of maintaining the reduced pressure for a first chosen time period; permitting the grains and the solution to remain at atmospheric pressure for a second chosen time period; reducing the pressure over the grains and the solution to a second selected value; and maintaining the reduced pressure for a third chosen time period. Claim 10: The method of claim 9, wherein the first selected value of reduced pressure is approximately equal to the second selected value of reduced pressure. Claim 11 : The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of vibrating the vacuum chamber at a chosen vibrational frequency during said step of maintaining the reduced pressure for a fourth chosen period of time. Claim 12: A method for overcoming differences in grain morphology using negative pressure to achieve a uniform imbibition rate, comprising: providing a system for imbibing grains using negative pressure, the system comprising a) a plurality of grains to be imbibed; b) an aqueous solution for imbibing the grains, the solution comprising: i. water; ii. approximately 3.0 - 10.0 ppm of plant additives; and iii. approximately 40.0 - 60.0 ppm of a reactive oxygen species; c) a vacuum chamber configured to apply negative pressure; and d) a growing station for cultivating imbibed grains into plant seedlings; placing the solution into the vacuum chamber; introducing the grains into the solution; reducing the pressure over the grains and the solution to a first selected value comprising approximately 10.0 - 25.0 inches of Hg; maintaining the reduced pressure for a first chosen time period comprising approximately 60 - 240 minutes; removing imbibed grains from the vacuum chamber and the solution; introducing the imbibed grains into the growing station; growing the grains in the growing station into plant seedlings; and harvesting the plant seedlings. Claim 13: The method of claim 12, wherein the grains are chosen from barley, wheat, com, sorghum, rice, oats, rye, and triticale, and mixtures thereof. Claim 14: The method of claim 12, wherein the plant additives comprise phytohormones chosen from gibberellins, auxins, cytokinins, abscisic acid, ethylene, and mixtures thereof. Claim 15: The method of claim 14, wherein the cytokinins comprise thidiazuron. Claim 16: The method of claim 14, wherein the auxins comprise 1- N aphthal eneacetami de . Claim 17: The method of claim 14, wherein the gibberellins comprise gibberellic acid (GA 3 ). Claim 18: The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of vibrating the vacuum chamber at a chosen vibrational frequency during said step of maintaining the reduced pressure for a first chosen time period. Claim 19: The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of: increasing the pressure to atmospheric pressure after said step of maintaining the reduced pressure for a first chosen time period; permitting the grains and the solution to remain at atmospheric pressure for a second chosen time period; reducing the pressure over the grains and the solution to a second selected value; and maintaining the reduced pressure for a third chosen time period. Claim 20: A system for imbibing grains using negative pressure to overcome differences in grain morphology to achieve a uniform imbibition rate, the system comprising: a plurality of grains to be imbibed; an aqueous solution for imbibing the grains, the solution comprising: a) water; b) approximately 3.0 - 10.0 ppm of plant additives; and c) approximately 40.0 - 60.0 ppm of a reactive oxygen species; a vacuum chamber configured to apply negative pressure to the grains in the aqueous solution; and a growing station for cultivating imbibed grains into plant seedlings.

Description

TITLE: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR NEGATIVE PRESSURE GRAIN IMBIBITION CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to U.S. Nonprovisional Patent Application No. 18/669,127 filed May 20, 2024 and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/511,128 filed June 29, 2023, both herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present disclosure relates in general to the imbibition of grains for the agronomic, horticulture, animal feed, and malting industries. More particularly, but not exclusively, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for overcoming individual differences in grain morphology using negative pressure to achieve a uniform rate at which grains absorb water, nutrients, and additives from the surrounding environment to increase the productivity, efficiency, and economics of industries that rely on grain germination and seedling development to produce a product. BACKGROUND [0003] A grain comprises an embryo packaged along with a food supply, called endosperm, inside a protective seed coat. Germination of the grain largely depends on two critical environmental factors: temperature and imbibition. Imbibition is the absorption of water by a dry seed due to its lower water potential as compared to the higher water potential of the surrounding environment. Water is known to move from a higher potential to a lower potential at varying speeds. The speed at which water travels down water potential gradients, or here absorption through the seed coat, may be impacted by a variety of contributing factors. Some of these contributing factors include individual grain morphologies, such as size, shape, hardness, and composition. Mitigating the impact of these individual grain morphologies is desired, as successful imbibition is required before the initiation of metabolic processes, triggering the release of phytohormones from the embryo and the onset of germination. [0004] Phytohormones are plant hormones produced in extremely low concentrations which control all aspects of plant growth and development. One important example of a phytohormone is gibberellin, which acts as a signal for the grain to begin synthesizing and secreting digestive enzymes that hydrolyze its stored food supply, often comprising starch, proteins, and lipids. These digestive enzymes include a-amylase, an enzyme that begins to hydrolyze starch into small, soluble molecules such as oligosaccharides, fructose, maltose and glucose, which are consumed during growth of the embryo as it transitions into a seedling. While a-amylase is the most important and well-studied enzyme, other enzymes such as maltase and glucosidase are also necessary to fully hydrolyze starch to glucose for ultimate use by the plant seedling. [0005] In commercial applications nutrients, additives, fungicides, insecticides, signaling compounds, and exogenous phytohormones (collectively, "plant additives"), are often added to the water and/or the surrounding environment of grains to improve germination rates, the mobilization of starches, and the development rate of seedlings. See Hedden et al., A Century Of Gibberellin Research, JOURNA OF PLANT GROWTH REGULATION, Vol. 34, pp. 740-760 (Oct. 13, 2015). The utility of such commercial applications however is severely limited due to the variability in water imbibition rates caused by individual differences in grain morphologies. See Palmer, G.H., The Industrial Use Of Gibberellic Acid And Its Scientific Basis - A Review, JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF BREWING, Vol. 80, Iss. 1, pp. 13-30 (Jan. -Feb., 1974); see also Briggs, D.E., Accelerating Malting: A Review of Some Lessons of the Past from the United Kingdom, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF BREWING CHEMISTS, Vol. 45, pp. 1-6 (Feb. 6, 2018). Indeed the commercial application of additives to the water and/or the surrounding environment of grain, particularly exogenous phytohormones, have proven exceedingly difficult to accurately dose because of the grain's narrow range of responsiveness (i.e., 1.5 - 3.0 ppm) in combination with extremely low concentrations needed to yield a positive result (e.g., 2.0 ppm). See Briggs, D.E., Accelerating Malting: A Review of Some Lessons of the Past from the United Kingdom, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF BREWING CHEMISTS, Vol. 45, pp. 1-6 (Feb. 6, 2018). As a result, individual differences in grain morphologies introduce significant and undesirable variations in water and plant additive imbibition rates that negatively impact germination times and resultant seedling development across the agronomic, horticulture, animal feed, and malting industries. [0006] Thus a desire remains to develop systems and methods that mitigate variations in water and plant additive imbibition rates for grains that negatively impact germination times and resultant seed development across the agronomic, horticulture, animal feed, and malting industries. A desi