Lentil plants having increased resistance to imidazolinone herbicides

Abstract

The present invention is directed to lentil plants having increased resistance to an imidaizolinone herbicide. One such plant described herein is the RH44 lentil variety. The present invention also includes seeds produced by these lentil plants and methods of controlling weeds in the vicinity of these lentil plants.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A lentil plant having increased resistance to an imidazolinone herbicide as compared to a wild type variety of the plant, wherein the lentil plant has an is of lentil line RH44, a representative sample of seed of the line having been deposited under ATCC Patent Deposit Designation Number PTA-3270. 
     
     
       2. A method for controlling weeds within the vicinity of the lentil plant of  claim 1 , comprising applying an imidazolinone herbicide to the weeds and to the lentil plant. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the imidazolinone herbicide is selected from the group consisting of imazethapyr, imazapic, imazamox, imazaquin, imazethabenz and imazapyr. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the imidazolinone herbicide is imazethapyr. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the imidazolinone herbicide is imazamox. 
     
     
       6. A seed of lentil line RH44, representative seed of said line having been deposited under ATCC Patent Deposit Designation Number PTA-3270. 
     
     
       7. A lentil plant, or a part thereof, produced by growing the seed of  claim 6 . 
     
     
       8. A method for producing a hybrid lentil seed wherein the method comprises crossing the plant of  claim 7  with a different lentil plant and harvesting the resulting hybrid lentil seed. 
     
     
       9. A hybrid lentil seed produced by the method of  claim 8 . 
     
     
       10. A lentil plant, or a part thereof, produced by growing the seed of  claim 9 . 
     
     
       11. A method for controlling weeds within the vicinity of a lentil plant, the method comprising applying an imidazolinone herbicide to the weeds and to the lentil plant, wherein the lentil plant is produced by growing a seed of lentil line RH44, representative seed of said line having been deposited under ATCC Patent Deposit Designation Number PTA-3270. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11  , wherein the imidazolinone herbicide is selected from the group consisting of imazethapyr, imazapic, imazamox, imazaquin, imazethabenz and imazapyr. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the imidazolinone herbicide is imazethapyr. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the imidazolinone herbicide is imazamox. 
     
     
       15. A lentil plant having increased resistance to an imidazolinone herbicide as compared to a wild type variety of the plant, wherein the lentil plant is obtained by a process comprising crossing lentil line RH44, a representative sample of seed of the line having been deposited under ATCC Patent Deposit Designation Number PTA-3270, with another Lens culinaris variety, wherein the plant comprises an AHAS polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:1. 
     
     
       16. The lentil plant of claim 15, wherein the lentil plant is a hybrid of lentil line RH44. 
     
     
       17. The lentil plant of claim 15, wherein said process further comprises a step of self pollination. 
     
     
       18. The lentil plant of claim 15, wherein the lentil plant is true breeding for the herbicide resistance characteristics of lentil line RH44.