Seed Vigor Concepts and Testing

Environmental conditions and management factors influencing storage and deterioration of seeds, including physiological and biochemical changes.

This course offers certification.

Whether you are a seed analyst, a seed producer, or a farmer, seed quality is very important to you. This course is valuable to anyone wanting to learn about seed quality, especially for those who are studying to be registered seed technologists or certified seed analysts. Individuals registered or certified by the Society of Commercial Seed Technicians or by the Association of Official Analysts are needed by seed companies and by state and federal seed laboratories.

High-quality seed is critical for agriculture to produce enough food to feed the world. Plant breeders work on developing the very best varieties they can and then the seed producers take that seed and carefully grow it to produce the highest seed quality that they can. Plant breeders work with genes that are present in a crop and can even take advantage of genetic engineering and newer techniques such as CRISPR. Seed producers can provide fertile soils, add fertility, and use the best cultural practices available to produce high-quality seed, but some things they cannot control such as the weather. All of these factors combine to determine the quality of the seed that farmers buy. Although grain production is difficult, seed production is even more so because the seed must also be kept alive because vigorous, high-quality seed is a necessity for farmers. Some of the important factors for seed quality include genetic quality, physical purity, germination, and seed health. Higher-quality seed leads to better germination, more vigorous seedling growth, higher crop stands, better quality of produce, and results in higher crop yields. Quality seed requires quality seed production, superior genetics, and proper seed processing.

The two main factors that affect seed quality are seed production and genetics. Both are essential to the production of high-quality seed. Seed producers have made tremendous advances in the production of high-quality seed. From planting until harvest, they make sure that the growing conditions are as optimal as possible. Then, the processing of seed insures that only high-quality seed is sold with modern seed treatments also contributing to germination, disease and insect resistance, and protection from adverse weather conditions. All of these contribute to the yield potential of the seed. The most important trait related to seed quality is probably the genetic component. However even with the best genetics, poor seed production will result in poor seed quality. Plant breeders are constantly improving yield potential and stress tolerance with the main goal of plant breeders being to develop higher yielding varieties. However, in the pursuit of this goal, seed quality is also improved because that is also a factor in developing varieties that yield more. To get maximum production of field crops, quality seed is very important.

If you want to be a seed analyst or work in some way with seeds, learning about how seeds are produced and how genes control traits such as seed quality is important to your job. Learning about these two main factors in seed quality will help you appreciate what has gone into the seed before you have even worked with it. Plant breeding will be thoroughly discussed to show how the genetic makeup of the plant can be modified to improve seed quality.

Objectives of the course:

• How proper seed production will help to produce quality seed that farmers can plant to produce high yielding crops.
• The importance of genetics to being able to produce high-quality seed.
• How plant breeding works and how genes can be selected that contribute to seed quality.
• The production and breeding of a specific crop.
• Helps seed analysts explain to customers low-quality problems with their seed.

This course offers certification.

This course introduces germination and other seed viability testing. Students become familiar with the source of the germination working sample, the AOSA rules for performing the standard germination test, planting the test, evaluating the seedlings, and reporting the results.

This course offers certification.

This course teaches students how to assess the quality of seed lots destined for planting purposes and how to perform these assessments accurately.

This course offers certification.

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 lots are not always used entirely each planting season. Seed that was purchased or grown this year may require storage to be carried over to subsequent planting seasons. When seed is carried over, it is expected to be of the same quality as seed that was recently produced. As a result, understanding the best possible methods for carrying over seed to maintain high germination and viability is crucial. This course is sixth in a series which will walk you through foundational concepts of seed conditioning.

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.

Seed conditioners play a unique role in modern seed production. Conditioners have the power to increase the quality of poor seed, and decrease the quality of good seed. While a grower has the ability to fine tune the conditions under which the seed crop is grown with fertilizer and water inputs, pest control and tillage to maximize quality, it is up to the conditioner to create the highest quality product out of what they are given. This course is second in a series which will walk you through foundational concepts of seed conditioning.

Seed that comes from the field is never pure, it contains sticks, stems, debris, soil, weed and other crop seeds, trash, and insects. In its simplest form, conditioning is the process of cleaning the seed and removing impurities and contaminates so that the end user receives pure, high-quality seed ready for planting. This course is first in a series which will walk you through foundational concepts of seed conditioning.

A core part of CGIAR’s work is strengthening the global genebanks community so that more people can access the crop diversity they need. The following online courses are available:

• Genetic Resources Policies: This online course will help you to appreciate how daily operations of genebanks and breeding programmes are affected by national and international laws and organizational policies governing access to, and use of, plant genetic resources and related information.
• Seed Quality Management: This online course covers the underlying biology of seed development and germination, the latest scientific discoveries and practical steps to improve seed viability and longevity.