Defense activators as an alternative to pesticides for controlling turfgrass diseases

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Civitas is a mixture of food-grade isoparaffins that is used in combination with Harmonizer, which is a chelated metal compound, and this combination is referred to here at C+H. Both compounds control plant diseases by activating or enhancing disease resistance in plants, but gene expression analysis has shown that this occurs through different pathways and thus different genes are affected. C+H has an additive or synergistic effect in increasing disease resistance compared to Civitas or Harmonizer alone. C+H has been registered in Canada and the U.S.A. for the control of turfgrass diseases. Anecdotal evidence by users of C+H in turfgrass indicates that it may provide multiple benefits to plants, such as increased stress tolerance and promotion of root and foliar growth. Therefore, C+H may have more applications than just controlling diseases. This is especially important to verify because the scientific foundation for any new claims of efficacy or activity must be demonstrated. This research seeks to validate the anecdotally observed improved efficacy or enhanced beneficial activity, and also will make a deeper examination of fractions that make up Civitas, since there potentially are portions that show greater efficacy with fewer non-target effects. Part of these analyses will be an examination of gene expression on a genome scale following application of C+H to plants. The results can be used to justify new uses for C+H, hence resulting in greater production and sales of the product that will be able to clearly promoted by the company as providing more benefits to the end users.