Ohio Agronomy Guide, 14th Edition

Bulletin 472-05

Chapter 11: Variety Evaluation, Seed Quality, and the Seed Law

By Dr. Jim Beuerlein

One of a crop producer’s goals should be to plant the best variety or hybrid for his or her operation. Extensive variety and hybrid testing programs are conducted annually for soybeans, corn, wheat, canola, and perennial forages by the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). The data collected from these trials include yield, maturity, lodging, disease reactions, various grain and forage characteristics, including quality and other evaluations that are important in selecting the best variety or hybrid of a crop. Due to the wide range in variety and hybrid characteristics and the diverse growing environments within Ohio, recommendations for the use of specific crop varieties are not made.

Variety selection should be based on multi-year, multi-location performance data gathered from properly conducted, unbiased testing programs—such as those conducted by OARDC. Performance trials are conducted at several locations within the state each year, with results published and available at the county office of Ohio State University Extension in each of Ohio’s 88 counties and on the Internet at: www.agcrops.osu.edu .

Another producer goal should be to plant high-quality seed of the best varieties and hybrids adapted to his/her farm. Selection and use of high-quality seed is the first step in establishing a good stand and in producing a profitable crop. The use of recommended cultural practices, proper fertilization, and control of plant pests is of little practical value if the seeds do not produce healthy, vigorous plants or if an un-adapted variety is selected.

Selecting the best variety became a more complicated process with the advent of so-called privately developed varieties in the mid-1970s and the large increase in the number of varieties offered for sale. Seed companies employ plant breeders to develop and release improved varieties. Previously, all wheat and soybean varieties grown in Ohio had been developed and released by plant breeders employed by the USDA or at the state experiment station. Those publicly developed varieties were tested by other interested states during their development and then released to the seed companies for reproduction and sale to producers and are known as public varieties. The development of genetically modified (GM) varieties and the use of utility patents to protect those varieties has further complicated how harvested grain and seed may be used on the farm.

Under the Ohio Seed Law, all seed sold or offered for sale must be completely labeled. Some items that must be indicated on the label or tag are:

• Name and address of company responsible for label information.
• Kind and variety—Hopewell wheat.
• Date tested—month and year of lab test.
• Purity and germination percentage.
• Percentage by weight of all weed seeds.
• Name and approximate number per ounce of each kind of secondary, noxious weed seeds.
• Percent weed seed.
• Percentage by weight of other agricultural seeds.
• Percentage by weight of inert matter.
• Net weight (pounds) of seed in the bag.
• State where seed was grown.

Home-grown grains are often low in quality and germination and are frequently contaminated with weed seed. These grains should not be used for seed except in an emergency, and then only after the seed has been cleaned, tested for germination and vigor, and treated with the appropriate fungicides. If home-grown grain is to be used for seed, then the seed field should be carefully harvested with a machine adjusted to maintain the best grain quality. The grain should be harvested when the grain moisture is four to eight percentage points higher than the proper storage moisture to reduce damage to the grain. The harvested grain should be handled gently to avoid damaging the seed coat. The cost of professionally produced and conditioned seed is only slightly more expensive than that of saved grain that has been properly cleaned, conditioned, and treated with the appropriate fungicides and insecticides and is an excellent value. Investment in new seed each planting season encourages seed companies to develop new, better-adapted, higher-yielding varieties that generate more income than can be realized from using one’s own grain for seed.

All carryover seed and all grain saved for seed should be tested for germination and vigor before use. For grains saved on the farm, these tests should be conducted before the grain is cleaned, treated with a fungicide, and bagged. Two laboratories in Ohio specialize in testing all kinds of seed for germination, purity, vigor, and other quality traits. These laboratories are:

Central Ohio Seed Testing
P. O. Box 1580
6150 Avery Road
Dublin, OH 43017-6580
Phone: 614-792-0334
Fax: 614-889-8979

Seed Technology, Inc.
P. O. Box 397
1383 Columbus Avenue
Marysville, OH 43040
Phone: 937-644-0088
Fax: 937-644-0602

Seed Quality Test

Standard Germination—This warm germination test is conducted for five to eight days at a temperature of 77°F and represents such ideal conditions for germination that even weak seed will often germinate. This is the germination percentage reported in the seed labeling information required for all seed offered for sale. This test can be conducted on either fungicide-treated or untreated seed.

Cold Test—This test is designed to measure the ability of seeds to germinate under high soil-moisture and low soil-temperature conditions. This vigor test simulates early season adverse field conditions and usually represents the lowest germination rate that would be expected from seed planted in such conditions. Actual field germination will normally fall between the cold test and the warm test results. This test can be conducted on either fungicide-treated or untreated seed. A germination percentage of 70 or greater is considered to be very good.

Accelerated Aging—This vigor test estimates the carryover potential of seed in warehouse storage. The seeds are exposed to high temperatures and high humidity for short periods of time. Seeds are suspended over water in a special chamber for 72 to 96 hours, depending on the species, and then removed and evaluated using the standard warm germination test. This test is recommended for frost-injured seed corn, carryover corn and soybean seed, and pre-sprouted wheat seed. This test can be conducted on either fungicide-treated or untreated seed.

Tetrazolium (TZ)—This test is known as a quick test for seed viability and can be very useful when the approximate germination rate is needed quickly. This test will not indicate disease as a warm germination test does but is highly reliable for corn, soybeans, wheat, and other grasses.

Due to short crop rotations, most crop fields in Ohio are infected with microorganisms that cause a wide range of disease in agronomic crops. In addition to using varieties with disease resistance, fungicide seed treatments are necessary to help control crop diseases. While much of the purchased crop seed contains a seed treatment with the appropriate fungicides, some seed companies do not treat the seed of some varieties they market. Therefore, it may be necessary to treat seed with fungicides on the farm before the seed is planted. Table 11-1 contains a listing of seed treatments labeled for application to seed on the farm and indicates which crops they are used for. Be sure to read product labels to determine application rates because over-application may kill the seed and under-application will not provide the needed protection.

Seed/Variety Protection Laws

The development of new plant varieties and hybrids is a very expensive activity requiring a great research effort and lots of time. Because the seed of many crops is easily reproduced and sold, it is often difficult for developers to recover their development cost, much less earn a profit. Without incentives to develop new varieties, our country, and farmers in particular, would not have the many new varieties developed to date and could not expect to receive the benefits of future variety development.

The principal incentive for research and development of new varieties is granted in the exclusive right to reap the financial rewards of that effort for a number of years. There are two ways in which developers of plant varieties may profit from their development effort—a certificate of plant variety protection under the Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) and a utility patent.

The Plant Variety Protection Act

This act was developed to promote the development of new varieties. It allows plant breeders to determine who can sell seed of the varieties they develop, which helps them recoup the funds expended to develop improved varieties. This system provides farmers with a continuous stream of improved varieties with increased yield potential and resistance to insects and diseases, and improved adaptation to adverse growing environments.

The Amended Plant Variety Protection Act became effective April 4, 1995, and covers all crops included in this guide except hybrid corn. Without the authority of the owner of a variety, the following actions are prohibited:

• Selling or offering a protected variety for sale.
• Sexually multiplying the variety as a step to marketing it for seeding purposes.
• Using seed marked or labeled “propagation prohibited” to propagate the variety.
• Dispensing the variety to another person without telling that person the variety is protected.

The law specifies how a farmer whose primary occupation is growing crops for food or feed (not growing crops as a source of seed to sell) may use seed. Seed protected under this law must be sold by variety name (except for turf, forage crops, alfalfa, and clover). A producer who has obtained the seed with the authority of the owner may use the seed for growing a crop and save the seed that results from that crop for his/her personal use. He/she may not sell this reproduced seed to a second producer.

Title V: This option of variety protection allows for the sale of seed by variety name only as a class of certified seed. Non-certified sales are prohibited. Seed may be called “Certified” only after meeting all the requirements and standards of an official seed certifying agency, which in Ohio is the Ohio Seed Improvement Association.

Utility Patents

Utility patents are a means of protection for varieties with special characteristics, especially those developed through genetic engineering or biotechnology. Examples are Roundup Ready varieties and hybrids, Liberty Link varieties and hybrids, Yield Guard Plus, Hercurlex, and Clearfield Hybrids. Table 11-2 indicates the activities allowed by farmers and seed conditioners by various seed laws.