Oral Session 34—Seed and Stand Establishment Moderator: Gene M. Miyao 21 July 2005, 2:00–3:00 p.m. Room 105
133 POSTER SESSION 20 Seed Establishment/Cross-Commodity
Abstract
The assessment of seed quality continues to attract increasing attention from the seed industry. Farmers believe that seed quality information will enable them to make economic decisions regarding the cost of seeds, earliness of planting, quantity of seeds to plant, and the anticipated uniformity of stand. Seedsmen believe that seed quality information will aid them in monitoring seed quality during the various processing phases of seed production. Seed quality tests might reveal where loss in seed viability occurs during combining, cleaning, drying, storing, bagging, etc. and may pinpoint adverse practices which could subsequently be improved. The accurate assessment of seed quality could have a significant impact on improving seed performance, which would culminate in important economic considerations for the farmer and seedsman alike. This report will attempt to clarify what seed quality is, what constraints are imposed on seed quality testing, how seed quality tests are assessed, how seed quality tests can be standardized, and what the future of seed quality testing may be.
inadequate labor supply, time, and resources necessary to cultivate, manage, harvest, process, and store high-quality seed crops. Simultaneously, regional environmental conditions, such as high humidity and temperature, may hinder successful seed production
The high initial cost of vegetable crop seeds, in particular hybrids, has led growers to use precision seeding and transplant production systems. Maximum plant stands have become a necessity for saving cost and time. The quality of a seed lot is the
Abstract
Lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa L.) showed definite flowering peaks over a 70-day period. Over 90% of the seed yield was from flowers which opened during the first 35 days, and seed produced from flowers opening during the first 2 flowering peaks were heavier than those produced later in the season. Seed size was not correlated with number of seeds per flower head. Seed yield and quality were not affected by early harvest or by withholding water and nutrients during the last half of the flowering period. Flowering rate, seed yield, and seed quality were not related to air temperature in the range 67 to 94°F.
Abstract
The concentration of seed production for some crops in specific areas of the U.S. and of other countries is persuasive testimony of the influence of environmental factors on seed development and quality. The environmental factors that have contributed to the selection and establishment of these specialized seed production areas can be sketched in rather broadly in brief reviews of some of the areas.
Abstract
In former days a vegetable grower would plant many times more seed than the plants he needed, to ensure a stand even if the seed quality were poorer than expected. Any excess seedlings were thinned out by hand, and the crop was harvested by hand, involving several harvests, with no concern for uniform maturity. Today the situation is different. Labor is expensive and becoming more so. The trend is toward mechanization, which requires precision planting or planting to a stand, with a once-over harvest. Only high-quality seed will do the job.
Poster Session 17–Seed and Stand Establishment 19 July 2005, 12:00–12:45 p.m., Poster Hall–Ballroom E/F
quality of mixtures of ‘Park’ and ‘Dragon’ Kentucky bluegrass (KB), ‘Salty’ alkaligrass (ALK), and ‘Smirna’ creeping red fescue (RF) as affected by deicing salts and seed ratio over a 2-year period. The average NDVI was not different among deicing salt