Herbicide Resistant Barley

Abstract

The application discloses non-naturally occurring barley plants with increased resistance to herbicides, particularly imidazolinone herbicides. Also disclosed are the barley seeds per se, an isolated nucleic acid incorporating the nucleic acid sequence conferring imidazolinone resistance, a method of inhibiting weed growth in the vicinity of a barley plant, an a method of growing a barley crop. Seeds have been deposited at NCIMB.

1 . A non-naturally occurring barley plant with increased resistance to imidazolinone herbicides compared to a wild type Buloke barley plant and deposited under NCIMB Deposit accession number NCIMB 41547, NCIMB 41550 or NCIMB 41551. 
     
     
         2 . The non-naturally occurring barley plant of  claim 1 , deposited as NCIMB Deposit accession number NCIMB 41547. 
     
     
         3 . The non-naturally occurring barley plant of  claim 1 , deposited as NCIMB Deposit accession number NCIMB 41550. 
     
     
         4 . The non-naturally occurring barley plant of  claim 1 , deposited as NCIMB Deposit accession number NCIMB 41551. 
     
     
         5 . A seed of the plant of  claim 1 , said seed having increased resistance to imidazolinone herbicides compared to seed of a wild type Buloke barley plant. 
     
     
         6 . A barley plant, or a descendent of a barley plant, grown or otherwise derived from the seed of  claim 5 . 
     
     
         7 . A method of inhibiting weed growth in the vicinity of a barley plant comprising growing the barley plant of  claim 1  and applying imidazolinone herbicide to said barley plant and its vicinity sufficient to inhibit weed growth. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the imidazolinone herbicide comprises at least two constituents selected from the group consisting of imazamox, imazapyr, and imazapic. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the imidazolinone herbicide is applied after plant emergence. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the imidazolinone herbicide used is a combination of imazamox and imazapyr applied post emergence at a rate of 12.375 g per hectare and 5.625 g per hectare respectively; 24.75 and 11.25 g per hectare respectively; 41.25 and 18.75 g per hectare respectively or 49.5 and 22.5 g per hectare respectively. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the imidazolinone herbicide used is a combination of imazamox and imazapyr applied at a rate of 26.25 and 8.75 g per hectare respectively or 42 and 14 g per hectare respectively. 
     
     
         12 . A method of growing a barley crop comprising the steps of:
 sowing the seed of  claim 5 ; and   cultivating said seed and a plant resulting therefrom to produce a barley crop.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising a step of applying an imidazolinone herbicide to said crop to inhibit growth of weeds in the crop.