Seed Conditioning 104 - Sourcing, Sampling, Handling

The Crop Trust is a non-profit international organization dedicated to conserving crop diversity and making it available for use globally, forever, for the benefit of everyone.

We work with donors and partners to lead global projects that protect crop diversity, conserve crop wild relatives and develop technology to make this diversity accessible worldwide.

We seek professionals with a passion for global food security and a strong drive to contribute to our mission of conserving crop diversity for future generations.

Type

Self-Paced

Fee

Paid

Topics

Acquisition Storage

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Overview

Seed conditioners process, handle and store seed. All these actions may influence the quality of the seed and therefore the conditioner may share in potential liability should the seed quality be compromised, contaminated or damaged during possession. Documenting the contents of seed received helps protect the conditioner from potential liability. Seed sampling should occur at multiple stages of receiving, processing and handling; it is important to select a representative sample of a seed lot. When a sample is created and viewed by conditioning personnel or sent to a testing laboratory the results obtained from the test are used to indicate the overall quality of the entire lot, make decisions as to what machinery should be used and eventually how to label the finished product. As a result, using a careful and representative method of sampling is required. This course is fourth in a series which will walk you through foundational concepts of seed conditioning.

Host

Colorado State University

Colorado State University is one of the highest rated higher education institutions in Colorado. Through CSU online and CSU UpSkill, the University provides access to online and distance education to students and working professionals.

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Related Courses

Seed Conditioning 107 - Seedborne Disease and Treatments

Seed can serve as a pathway for introducing plant diseases and other pests to new environments and new countries. The risk to agriculture is very high should a new pathogen become introduced and established in an important crop. Seed of over 300 species of plants are moved globally, often several times before being sold commercially. Therefore, the removal or management of seed borne disease is imperative to protect global agriculture and trade. This course is seventh in a series which will walk you through foundational concepts of seed conditioning.

Seed Conservation Techniques

The course is aimed at scientists involved in different aspects of seed conservation, therefore there are no minimum academic requirements for the course, although owing to course content, participants should be comfortable interpreting graphs, reading scientific papers and performing basic calculations.

As the course is delivered online, a reliable internet connection and basic IT skills are required for participation. Training on the use of the online training platform is provided.

Seed Conservation

This course provides an introduction to seed conservation for botanic gardens or other seed conservation partners with limited or no skills in seed conservation or seed banking.

By end of the course participants will:

Have an understanding of seed conservation
Be able to identify the different steps involved in seed conservation
Recognise good practice in seed collection and banking
Understand the seed banking standards
Have knowledge of case studies addressing native seed supply

This course is open access. For questions please contact BGCI's training team.