Aragp A ALSt. 0L3 0) 84862008) Short Communication Underlying Principles for Successful Seed Production D. Vijay Andhra Pradesh Rice Research Institute and Regional Agricultural Research Station, Maruteru-534122, West Godavari. A.P, India Seed is the basic input of agriculture. Seed production is quite different from the normal crop production, Since the basics for both of them are similar, by following some special precautions and management operations scrupulously seed production can be done successfully. Seed production involves various steps starting from the selection of suitable land to bagging of the final produce. The underlying principles are the key factor for production of good quality seed with highest genetic purity ‘The first and foremost factor for the success of seed production per seis the selection of suitable land, The land selected should be non-problematic, well arable, fertile and properly levelled. The important precaution in the selection of land is the details of the erop grown in the previous season. Select a land where the same crop is not grown in the previous season, and if this condition becomes difficult to satisfy, then at least care should be taken in selecting a land where same seed production variety was grown in the previous season or else the present variety must be distinctly different from the previous season varicty in all aspects. Sufficient time should be there between ploughing/ puddling and sowing/ transplanting the crop to monitor the germination of volunteer plants, Further, ploughing/puddling should be done if any seedling emergence is observed, Adequate care should also be taken in the levelling of the field as it helps in uniform growth and maturity of the crop apart from easy identification of off types. The problematic soils should be duly avoided for seed production purpose because of hindrance tothe fall expression of characters in these soils The second most important factor is selection of a variety. Only the recommended varieties for that growing season should be taken up i. akharif variety in the kharif (rainy season) and a rabi variety in the rabi (winter) season. Also care should be taken to use a variety that was suitable for that region and by doing so, genetic shift of the variety which is one of the factors for loss of genetic purity, can be avoided. The next factor for successful seed production is, the selection of source of seed material, According to the generation system of seed production followed in India, there are three classes of seeds in order viz, Breeder seed, Foundation seed and Certified seed. The source material for Breeder seed is Nucleus seed. Nucleus seed is produced by ear to row method and is commonly produced in the originating research station. Where as Foundation class seed is produced fiom Breeder seed and certified from Foundation seed. Foundation and certified seeds shall be offered for certification by independent certification agencies. The source material for farmers’ level seed production/ seed village schemes is Foundation class of seed, The certified seed is the seed offered for commercial cultivation. It is always advisable to take up seed production of a single variety in large areas to hamess the advantage of compact area approach, which results in production of good quality seed economically After the selection of source material, based on the type of crop either nursery or direct sceding is practiced. For crops where nursery is taken up, the nursery area must have been kept fallow or covered by other than seed crop for one previous season because it is the main source for occurrence of off-types and admixtures apart from inoculation of diseases ete. In general the seed rate for seed production is slightly less than that for commercial cultivation. All the other practices followed in raising the nursery are similar for both seed production as well as crop production. ‘The other difference between erop production and seed production is ‘spacing’. A wider spacing is invariably adopted in the seed production of all crops to facilitate favourable microclimate for the expression of all characters and for easy management practices. Always a single sced/seedling is sown/ planted per hill, for the proper observation of characters and to identify the off types and admixtures. The most commonly followed wrong practice in seed production is gap filling/ thinning/ both, which should be avoided perpetually. The recommended agronomic management should bepracticed along with timely pest and disease management ‘tohave ahealthy and good crop. Maintenance of isolation distance is one of the important factors in deciding the genetic purity (Agrawal 1994). Minimum isolation should be followed based on the type of crop (Table 1). Isolation is must both for self and cross pollinated crops. There are different types of isolations which can be practiced based on the feasibility. ‘The most commonly followed isolation is space isolation particularly in self pollinated crops since it is comparatively less than cross pollinated crops. Another ne is time isolation which is not possible in case of tillering crops otherwise for others this is highly economical one. The third one is the barrier isolation, where a physical barrier is erected between the crops that are tobe isolated. In research farms where, more number of, varieties are to be grown in a small area this is the best useful one. The main aim of any isolation is to reduce the cross contamination. Itis always advisable to leave border ‘Table 1. Minimum isolation distances of some important crops rows in all types of isolations to reduce the chance factors in maintaining the genetic purity. ‘The other major difference among secd and commercial crops is periodical field inspection. Even though field inspection is practiced in regular crop production, a timely schedule of inspection should be followed in seed production, There are three critical stages of crop during which inspection has to be done. First inspection coincides with the active vegetative stage second one during flowering stage and third one during maturity stage. During each inspection all the off types/ rogues should be identified based on stage specific characters (Table 11) and should be removed ruthlessly Apart from the above said characters the specific characters mentioned by the breeder during release of the variety should be taken into consideration in identifying the off types and rogues. Rouging is very important in ‘maintaining the genetic purity of a variety and should be followed without any excuse (Laverack and Turner, 1995). S.No. Crop Isolation distance (m) Foundation class Certified class 1 Rice, Wheat, Ground nut 3 3 2 Maize , Bajra 400 200 3 Sorghum , Redgram 200 100 4 Pulses 10 5 3 Sunflower 400 200 6 Cotton 50 30 7 Potato 5 5 8 Brinjal 200 100 9 Bhindi 400 200 10 Cabbage & cauliflower 1600 1000 ul Onion 1000 500 Hybrids 1 Rice, Wheat 200 100 2 Sorghum 300 200 3 Bajra 1000 200 4 Maize 400 200 5 Cotton 50 30 6 Sunflower 600 400 7 Brinjal 200 200 8 Onion 1000 300 55‘After thorough rouging, the next phase of precautions should be taken during the harvesting and post harvesting operations. These two operations are the major source of mechanical mixtures which are one of the important factors that affect the genetic purity of a variety (Agrawal, 1995), Harvesting either by mechanical or manual means is the good source for admixtures particularly if more than one variety is harvested simultaneously, If possible itis always advisable to take up variety wise harvesting and post harvest operations Starting from carrying the harvested produce to threshing and winnowing utmost care should be taken to avoid contamination (Singhal 2003). The threshing floor should be free from cracks and crevices and should be cleaned thoroughly. Even though all these precautions seem to be routine but they have tremendous effect in maintaining the quality of the produce. Where mechanical processing is followed, care should be taken in thorough cleaning of ‘machines particularly when more than one variety is used ‘The processed seed should always be bagecd in new gunny bags again to avoid admixtures and should be labelled immediately for proper identification. Another important factor is moisture content. The moisture content should not be above the prescribed limit (Table III) as the seed material in general will be stored for at least one season, Proper drying should be done to bring the moisture to the recommended level even before processing is done. A regular checking of the quality parameters of the seed material is necessary to have @ good crop in the next season. ‘These are all the general precautions one should invariably follow to produce a good quality seed material with highest genetic purity. The crop specific conditions may differ slightly butthe principle remains the same. ‘Table 2. Stage specific characters for identifying the offtypes/ admixtures in seed crop Stage Active vegetative stage Flowering stage Maturity stage ‘Observations Deviants should be identified based on vigour of the plant, plant height, leaf shape, width, angle and other plant characters Observation of offtypes should be done based on early/ late flowering, variations in the floral characters. Based on grain/ seed colour, colour and shape of fruit, days to maturity, plant type etc. the off types should be identified. ‘Table 3. Recommended moisture contents of major crops stored in non-vapour proof containers, SNo. Crop __ moisture content (%) I Rice 13 2 Cereals and millets 12 3 Cotton 10 4 Pulses - 3 Sunflower 9 6 Ground nut 9 7 Potato, Brinjal, Tomato, Onion 8 8 Cucurbits and cole crops 1 ” References Agrawal, PK, 1994, Principles ofSeed Technology: ICAR, New Delhi, pp107. Agrawal, R.L. 1995. Seed Technology. Oxford and IBH publishing Co Laverack,G.K. and Turner, R. 1995. Roguing seed crops for genetic purity, a review. Plant Varieties and Seeds: 8: New Delhi, pp 829. Singhal, N.C. 2003. Hybrid Seed Production in Field Crops (Principles and Practices). Kalyani publishers, New Delhi, pp 308,