Why Seed Quality is Critical

About Presenter

Sarah Foster, Registered Seed Technologist - Senior Seed Analyst

Sarah has been involved in the seed industry since the late 1970's with her initial training at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge, England and work experience with seed companies in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Sarah started 20/20 Seed Labs Inc the first fully independent accredited seed testing laboratory in 1989 in Nisku, Alberta and it has grown over the years to provide testing services for all crop kinds, including extensive quality and seed health analysis, molecular testing and accredited crop inspection.  Their clients include individual growers, seed cleaning facilities, crop protection companies and multinational seed companies.  20/20 Seed Labs Inc, is Canada's only independent laboratory accredited by the International Seed Testing Association.

Sarah works extensively with government and farmers, sits on a number or National and International committees and is one of the most experienced seed analysts in North America.

About Presentation

20/20 Seed Labs Inc. has developed packages of seed tests that can be utilized at various stages of seed conditioning to determine seed quality. Seed testing and seed quality has evolved into a multifaceted analysis of many types of tests. We offer seed tests such germination, vigour, and others, then choose which ones are most important based on the stage of your seed (before cleaning, after cleaning, after treating, etc.)

The germination test has been the standard to which most people measure the quality of their seed when deciding if it is worth using for planting purposes. Our trained and experienced analysts can differentiate between healthy seedlings and seedlings that are abnormal due to events such as frost, heating, and chemical injury due to the use of pre-harvest dessication. We can recognize the difference between a seed that is dead verses a dormant seed that will probably still grow into a healthy plant.

Vigour testing is becoming very important due to the common spring practice of planting seed into cold soil temperature. The germination test is always performed under optimum conditions to determine the maximum potential of the seed (20°C temperature for a cereal grain). Our vigour test for cereal grains is a cold stress test where the seedling is analyzed for rate and uniformity of emergence after being subjected to a constant temperature of 6°C for 12 consecutive days.

Seed is also subjected to many diseases during the growing season and can be a carrier of these pathogens that can deteriorate the seed and/or affect crop yield and quality. We test for the seed borne diseases and list them and state the level at which they have infected the seed lot. This type of testing is critical to assist in determining if the seed lot should be used and if so, what type of seed treatment would best control the pathogens on the seed.

The 1,000 kernel weight test is used to help determine the proper seeding rate. Experts agree that planting should be performed on seeds/sq. meter verses a volume measurement.

Seed quality is the foundation of a great crop. A well designed package of seed tests can help determine the viability of the seed, the seeding rate, and project the optimum plant stand. This promotes the most efficient use of other crop inputs such as nutrients and herbicides to ensure you produce the best crop possible. Please contact us to get assistance with a package of seed tests to determine your seed quality.