Can Poor Seed Quality be Related to Specific Production Factors through Seed Testing?.

Production factors, whether before or after seed development, as well as post-harvest operations, affect seed quality and can have a significant impact on subsequent field establishment and yield. In addition to viability and purity tests, many seed testing laboratories perform various seed vigor assessments, and can identify poor quality lots before they are planted. However, seed testing laboratories are often asked by producers to relate poor quality to specific production factors. Such information is of critical importance to seed producers with problem lots, and is often a point of contention between producers and subsequent growers (consumers) of the seed. In the absence of reliable information as to the specific cause or causes of poor quality of a certain seed lot, following seemingly standard production practices, corrective measures cannot be taken.  Although vigor tests are reliable indicators of seed quality, these tests have not been developed with the objective of relating poor quality to a specific production factor or factors. Examples of investigations at our laboratory on several seed lots of different crops, relating quality to possible production factors, as well as possible tests that can be used, are presented. At the present time, poor seed quality cannot, in most cases, be related to specific production factors through seed testing unless specific events during the production process are known and documented. The possibility of developing such tests is explored.