Chapter 5.

Principles in Seed Production

Principles in Seed production

• Production of genetically pure and quality seed requires:

• High technical skill and specialization.

• The producer should be familiar with genetic and agronomic principles of

seed production.

• Seed production must be carried out under standard and well-organized

conditions.
 1. Genetic principles
• For seed production, is necessary to ensure that the product is true-to type.

• However, genetic purity of a variety can deteriorate due to the following several factors.

• Developmental variations: when seed crops are grown under environments with differing soil
fertility, climate, photoperiods, or at different elevations for several consecutive generations
developmental variations may set in as differential growth responses

• Mechanical mixtures:
• The most important reason for varietal deterioration

• Often takes place at the time of sowing if more than one variety is sown,

• Through volunteer plants of the same crop in the seed field, or

• Through different varieties grown in adjacent fields.

• Mutations: mutations do not seriously deteriorate varieties.

• Natural crossing:
• An important source of varietal deterioration in sexually propagated crops.

• The extent of contamination depends upon the magnitude of natural cross-fertilization.

• Minor genetic variation:

• minor genetic variations can occur even in varieties appearing phenotypically uniform and homogenous when
released

• Selective influence of diseases:

• New crop varieties often are susceptible to newer races of pests and diseases and thus selectively influence
deterioration.

• The vegetatively propagated stock also can deteriorate quickly if infected by virus, fungi or bacteria.

• Technique of the plant breeders:

• Premature release of varieties, still segregating for resistance and susceptibility to diseases or other factors can
cause significant deterioration of varieties.
 2. Agronomic principles

• The application of the following agronomic principles to preserve good

seed quality and abundant seed yields for standard seed production.
1. Selection of suitable Agro-climatic region
• The seed crops have to be grown only in areas well adapted to the
photoperiodic and temperature conditions.
• Region of moderate rainfall and humidity are much more suited to
seed production than regions of high rainfall and humidity.
• Regions with extreme summer heat and very cold winters should also
be avoided for seed production.
2. Selection of seed plot and preparation of land

• Seed production plot should have good soil texture and fertility.
• Should be free from volunteer plants weeds and other crop plants.
• Soil should be free from soil borne diseases and insect pests.
• The previous crops should not be the same crop.
• The plot should get adequate isolation distance.

• Good land preparation helps in improved & uniform germination resulted in good
stand establishment.
 3. Isolation of seed crops

• The seed crop must be isolated from other nearby fields from the
same crop or any contaminating crop as per certification standards.

• Time isolation could also be used in some crops.

• Isolation of seed production of different varieties is also necessary to

avoid mechanical contamination.
 Isolation distance…

• Isolation distance for seed production may be followed on the basis

of degree of Natural cross pollination (Kallo, 1988)

• 0- 10 % natural cross pollination: 100- 150 m

• 11- 25 % : 200- 300 m

• 25- 50%: 300- 500 m

• 50- 75 %: 500- 1000 m

• 75- 100%: more than 1000 m.

4. Selection of variety and seed

• A variety should be well adapted to agro-climatic condition

• A variety should be high yielder and posses other desirable characters

like disease resistance, earliness, grain quality etc.

• The seed used should be of known purity, appropriate class

• The seed should be treated with appropriate fungicides/insecticide

prior to sowing.
5. Time of sowing, seed rate and roguing
• Should be sown at their normal planting time

• Lower seed rate than usual to facilitate roguing operation/seed inspection (not
always)

• To rouge plants (off types, pollen shedders, diseased plants, etc.,) at the earliest
possible but before flowering

• The number of rouging varies with the crop, purity of the source seed and the
stage of the multiplication of the seed crops.

• Rouging in most of the field crops may be done at - Vegetative, Pre-flowering,

Flowering and Maturity stages
6. Supplementary pollination

• In cross-pollinated crops supplementing the natural pollination is

very much essential to increase the seed yield.

• Provision of honeybees, hand pollination, floral mechanism, and rope

pulling are some of the techniques used in cross pollinated crops to
increase the seed set and there by seed yield.
7. Disease and Insect management and weed control

• Reduces seed yield and quality

• Infection of seeds with spores

• Compete with seed crop and reduces seed yield and quality

• Presence of weed seeds at the time of harvest leads to mixing of weed

seeds with crops seeds and difficult to separate during seed processing

• Harbors pests and diseases

8. Nutrition:
• Important role for proper development of plant and seeds
• N-Good healthy growth, P-Fruiting and seed development, K- flowering and
seed development
• Proper nutrition to achieve synchronization
9. Irrigation:
• Required for translocation of all the nutrients
• Seed production areas should be dry regions with assured irrigation
10. Harvesting of seed crops
• Time and method of harvesting are important.
• Harvest when the seed is fully matured (Moisture content less than 20%)
• Early or late harvesting affect seed quality.
• Every effort should be made to avoid chance of mechanical mixing,
mechanical injury to seeds during harvesting, threshing, cleaning drying and
packing.

11. Drying of seeds

• In order to preserve seed viability and vigour, it necessary to dry seeds to safe
moisture content levels as early as possible without heaping wet seed \ pods.
12. Storage of Raw Seeds
• After sun drying, the seed should be filled in clean bags.

• The bags should be treated with chemical, dried and cleaned before they are filled.

• Mark the bag with name of variety and other details.

• The bags should be stacked on wood pallets but not directly on the floors.

• The height of the stack should not be more than 3 to 4 m for cereals, 2.5 to 3 m for other
crops.

• The warehouse should be dry, cool and clean and later fumigate as and when necessary.
Seed drying structure
3. Seed purity maintenance

• During seed multiplication, varietal purity and identity needs to be maintained.

• Each multiplication cycle starts from the ‘breeder seed’.

• If the breeder seed is not of high purity, the contaminants present get multiplied
several times in the succeeding generations of foundation and certified seed
production.

• The presence of contaminants may even lead to complete loss of the improved
features of the cultivar.
The important safeguards for maintaining genetic purity during seed production are:

1. Growing crops only in areas of their adaptation to avoid genetic shifts.

2. Use of only approved class of seed in seed multiplication and adopt generation system.

3. Inspection and approval of seed plots prior to planting

4. Isolation of seed crops from various sources of contamination by natural crossing or

mechanical mixtures.

5. Roguing of off types differing in characteristics from those of the seed variety.

6. Qualified and experienced personnel of seed certification agency should inspect seed crops at
all appropriate stages of growth and verify seed lots or purity and quality.

7. Testing of varieties for genetic purity.

 4. Roguing
• Roguing is the removal of off-type plants, plants of other cultivars, and weeds in the seed production field.

• Sources of offtypes

• Off-type characteristics (i.e., those that do not conform to the cultivar description) may arise because

recessive genes may be present in a heterozygous condition even in homozygous cultivars.

• Contamination by unwanted pollen due to inadequate isolation and volunteer plants

• Some weed species produce seeds that closely resemble crop seeds and are difficult to screen out

• Mutation

• Positive selection is practiced to retain a small portion of desirable plants and to maximize the frequency of

desirable alleles in the population.

• Roguing following visual inspection eliminates the relatively small population that is not “true to type”.

• Off-type individual plants should be rogued out of the seed production fields before pollination occurs.
5. Environmental factors affecting bolting
• A plant may flower prematurely, a phenomenon called bolting

• A cold spell or changes in day length initiates this behavior.

• When this phenomena happens, the leaves cannot produce sufficient food to support
plenty of flowers. Removal of the first flowers will allow the leaves to produce more food
for the succeeding flowers to develop and set into fruit.

• The seed crop of cool season vegetables requires environmental conditions that are very
different from those for the harvest of the market-use vegetable crop.

• The seed crop requires distinct climate conditions; cold stimulus to initiate flowers
(Messian, 1992) and a subsequent warm condition for seed set and maturity
Causes of bolting

• Bolting is triggered either by cold spells or by the changes in day length through the seasons.

• Annual crops will flower naturally in the first year, whereas biennials do not usually flower until the second.

• In annual crops, bolting occurs before they are ready to gather and, in biennials, when an over-wintering

organ (carrot roots for example) flowers before the winter.

Annual crops

• Annual crops sensitive to photoperiod (how many hours of daylight received) include lettuce, some radish

cultivars and spinach.

• They are long-day plants, which initiate flowers when day length increases.

• It is a natural progression for spring-sown annuals to run to seed as summer progresses, but this can happen

prematurely under the influence of stress or day-length.

Biennial crops

• Some biennial crops (first year, vegetative growth, second year, flowering) such as
onions, leeks, carrot and beetroot can initiate flowers in the first year.

• This is due to unsettled weather conditions early in the season and usually occurs
after a prolonged cold spell, often during the propagation phase.

• Cold nights, hot days and late frosts may also contribute to premature initiation
of flowering.
Control of bolting

• Sowing times
• With cold-sensitive plants, sowings can be delayed until temperatures are more stable.

• Alternatively, for early crops of vegetables such as onions, beetroot and kohl rabi, plants can
be raised in a greenhouse and planted out when temperatures are warmer.

• Successional sowings will also help to achieve a constant harvestable supply if the season is
changeable

• To prevent bolting in Chinese cabbage and other oriental brassicas, these crops should be
sown from July onwards

• Vegetables such as radicchio, Florence fennel, and oriental greens bolt when the nights
become warm – on average above 10-13°C (50-55°F)
• Soil conditions
• Good growing conditions will encourage rapid growth and formation of a
usable portion and so an adequate crop should develop before flower
production.

• Dry soil can also encourage bolting, particularly with cauliflower, rocket and
spinach. Careful watering can avoid bolting

• For over-wintered onions, bolting can be suppressed by top dressing with 70-
100g per sq m (2-3oz per sq yd) of nitrogen rich fertilizer in January
‘Bolt-resistant’ cultivars
• Gardeners can grow specially-bred cultivars that are resistant to bolting, such
as ‘Boltardy’ beetroot.

• These are useful for early sowings of annuals, such as spinach, and for sowings
of biennials such as onions, carrots and turnips

• Red onions seem to be more prone to bolting than white or brown types.

• If bolting in onions is a recurring problem, plant heat-treated sets in early

spring (exposure to high temperatures suppresses flower-bud formation)
The End