This document discusses seed quality assurance in India. It makes three key points: 1) Seed quality is essential for higher agricultural productivity and farmer incomes. Factors like genetic purity, physical purity, germination and health are important for quality seeds. 2) Ensuring quality requires cooperation across the seed industry, including variety maintenance, quality production and testing, packaging, and storage. Precise testing is needed using methods like tetrazolium staining. 3) Steps are needed to improve quality assurance, including updating standards, building capacity through training, enhancing laboratory infrastructure, and rationalizing certification norms. Collaboration is important to assure farmers receive high quality seeds.

1. Seed Quality Assurance
Malavika Dadlani
Joint Director (Res)
IARI, New Delhi
Indian Seed Congress 2013

2. A Good Seed
• Variety Performance
• Seed quality
are the two most important criteria on
which rests the reputation of a seed
company

3. Why Quality Seed
• Seed is the basic input for
higher productivity (15 -
20%)
• Seed is the natural delivery
system for enhancing
productivity, profitability and
resource use efficiency
• Improves
income, employment and
livelihood

4. Seed Quality
Genetic Purity
Physical Purity
Germination
High seed vigour
Good seed health
-Dr. M.S. Swaminathan

5. Seed quality assurance
“Seed quality assurance" implies that
agencies charged with maintenance of
seed quality cooperate with and support
other areas of seed industry stakeholders
to assure quality products to the end
users. (M Larinde, FAO)

6. Rationale
• Ensure that the best quality seeds are
produced and sold to farmers
• Prevent the spread of weed, pests and
diseases
• Meet consumer demands for specified
qualities (and traits)
• Cater to the needs of specialized farming,
including mechanization
• Provide basis for healthy competition
among seed traders

7. Steps in QA
• Pre-production Variety maintenance
• Production of quality seed
• Processing to obtain quality seed
• Precision in post-production testing of
seed quality
• Seed quality enhancement
• Packaging and storage to retain seed
quality

8. Precision in testing

9. Q2 Analyser
http://www.astec-global.com/seed-analyser
Works on dry seeds and a
non-destructive method. But
needs to modify the design
To suit large no. of samlpes

10. Seed Germination & Seed Viability
• TZ introduced by ISTA during 1960s
• Though labour and time intensive for
seed preparation & evaluation, still a
valuable test for the industry
As per ISTA, if 5 or > 5% seeds are FU,
TZ test is a must
TZ test is simple and anyone can do it!

11. Variation in staining patterns

12. Genetic and Trait Purity
• It is an important tool for variety
maintenance as well as genetically pure
commercial seed production,both in case
of an OPV or hybrid variety.
• Can be performed at different levels:
based on field grow-out, lab tests,
molecular tests etc.

13. Image Analysis for Variety
Identification

14. Fingerprints and DNA fingerprints
Fingerprints are
unique to each
individual
DNA fingerprints are unique
to each individual
The probability of two
unrelated individuals having
identical DNA fingerprints is
much lower than that of their
fingerprints
Sir Alec Jeffreys, Nature, 1984

15. DNA fingerprinting technology
- Humans Vs Plant varieties
Human Cultivars
• One species, races??? • Multitude of species, subsp, races
• Similarity in requirements • Diverse requirements
• All out breeding • Veg. propagation to crossbred
• One individual, one profile • Diverse genetic composition:
purelines, inbreds, O/P, hybrids,
composites, ---
• Strong to weak substructure
• Subtle substructure, varied
• Common alleles across groups
• Allelic specificity in races
• Applications: identity, purity,
• Applications: identity,
relatedness, genetic makeup
paternity
• Techniques: SSR, SNP, AFLP….?
• Techniques: SSR, SNP

16. Status of science VNTR-RFLP
• Which technique to use!
• Accessibility of technology
RAPD
• Applicability
• Robustness
• Repeatability
• Ambiguities in profiles
ISSR
• Cost
• Sample throughput Sequence/SNP
• Automation ------
RAPD SSR
VNTR

17. STMS markers for hybrid seed purity testing in cotton
Rana et al…..

18. Testing Hybridity in Cotton Hybrid
M H F

19. Cost considerations in purity testing
• Present automated STMS profiling systems
cost ~Rs. 40 /sample/marker
• For 5000 plants – cost is Rs. 2.50 lakhs, but
can be reduced by 1/10th with judicious
bulking procedures.
• Precision & sensitivity is high
• Time scale: 900 plants, 6 days/5000 plants
• No. of persons: 2

20. Seed Enhancement
“Any post harvest treatment that improves
germination / seedling emergence or facilitate
the development of more number of
normal, rapid, uniform and healthy seedlings in
the field conditions.”
McDonald (2000)

21. „Priming of an Idea-Invigoration of Seed‟
Heydecker (1973)
• Prof. Heydecker’s pioneering work on
vegetable seed priming (at Nottingham
University) paved the way for an array of
technologies based on the basic principle
of metabolic advancement of seeds for
enhancing its performance on subsequent
sowing, either immediately or after a
period of storage, and under optimal or
sub-optimal conditions of growing.

22. Seed Enhancement Technique

23. Magnetic seed treatment
Guoys balance
Sample holder
Gauss meter + Pole pieces
controller
MF probe
Power pack
Indigenously fabricated generator for seed
treatment (IARI, 2010)

24. Yield and growth attributes of maize seed
exposed to electro-magnetic field
Treatment Plant Days Cob Grain
height to 50% weight yield
Control (cm) silking (kg/plot) kg/plot
Treated
Control 155 48 8.7 6.3
Control
100 mT 166 58 9.3 6.8
200 mT 200 mT 162 62 10.5 7.6
Magnetic treatment with 200
mT for 1 hr showed 16%
increase in grain yield than
control

25. What needs to be done

26. Variety Maintenance
• Follow strictly the well defined system of
variety purification and maintenance: an
essential component between the variety
release and seed production
• Identify newer areas for quality seed
production: compact area, seed zone
concept
• In case of licensing insist on replacement
of Breeder seed / Source seed after every
2 – 3 years in case of CP/ SP spp.

27. Quality standards
• Developing quality evaluation protocols,
which are more precise and cost effective
• Revision of protocols and standards
tomeet the needs of emerging
technologies
• Generation of data to rationalise standards
• Generation of database to apply DNAFP
for purity testing
• Generation of database for disease
management

28. Relook into
Seed Certification Standards
1. Rationalise quality
standards
Legal norms to qualify
2. Develop seed quality
standards for • Genetic identity
• Physical purity
• Horticultural spp. (seed
• Germinability
and planting materials)
• Freedom from seed-
• Organic seeds borne pathogens
• Transgenic seeds

29. Capacity Building
• For seed production through contract
farmers : regional agricultural universities
and other institutions can build farmers’
skill and employment.
• Training farmers to upgrade quality of
farm-saved seed which still contributes
~70% of all seed used

30. HRD and infrastructure development
• To have Seed Testing Labs adequately
equipped with facilities and trained
personnel aware of latest technologies
• Establishment of Regional Referral Labs
• Close collaborations of ISTA
• Regular training programmes for seed
analysts ( Specialised Diploma courses )

31. Thank you for your kind attention!