Making Sure of Healthy Seed

Erwin L. LeClerg.

The primary purpose of seed certification is to maintain and to make available to our farmers crop seeds, tubers, or bulbs of good seeding value and true to name. The factors considered in determining good seeding value or quality include viability, content of weed seeds, and freedom from seed-borne pathogens or viruses.

The production of certified seed of superior varieties of field and forage crops involves the cooperative effort of many State, Federal, and private agencies. Among them are State agricultural experiment stations and extension services, State departments of agriculture, State crop improvement associations, the International Crop Improvement Association, the seed trade, and the United States Department of Agriculture. The work started at a meeting in 1919 of representatives of the States and Canadian certifying agencies.

The determination of eligibility of varieties for certification is the chief responsibility of the State agricultural experiment station in every State. Factors considered in determining the suitability of a crop variety for inclusion in a certified-seed program include yield, adaptation, and resistance to diseases and insects.

THE REQUIREMENTS for eligibility for certification vary as to type of crop. Certification for such cereal crops as wheat, oats, or barley, because of their limited area of adaptation, is relatively simple and frequently is conducted on a local-area basis. But the distribution of good seed of perennial forage crops alfalfa, red clover, the grasses requires the effort of many persons in widely separated areas because most of such seed is not produced in the locality where it is used for hay and pasture seedings.

The farmer may make application for inspection but is under no obligation to do so.

Varieties of field crops must be approved by a State agricultural experiment station before they are eligible to be considered for certification. In general, only one variety of the same crop, for seed production, is permitted on a farm except by prior approval of the certifying agency.

Field inspection is an important phase of the certification procedure. The International Crop Improvement Association has established certain minimum field standards, which form the basis for the regulations adopted by State certifying agencies. The standards take into consideration the type of crop, the degree of isolation necessary to prevent cross-pollination, and the class of seed produced.

Four classes of seed are recognized in seed certification of field and forage crops: Breeder seed, foundation seed, registered seed, and certified seed. The International Crop Improvement Association defines them thus:

"Breeder seed is seed or vegetative propagating material directly con- trolled by the originating, or in certain cases the sponsoring plant breeder or institution, and which provides the source for the initial and recurring increase of foundation seed.

"Foundation seed shall be seed stocks that are so handled as to most nearly maintain specific genetic identity and purity and that may be designated or distributed by an agricultural experiment station. Production must be carefully supervised or approved by representatives of an agricultural experiment station. Foundation seed shall be the source of all other certified seed classes, either directly or through registered seed.

Registered seed shall be the progeny of foundation or registered seed that is so handled as to maintain satisfactory genetic identity and purity and that has been approved and certified by the certifying agency. This class of seed should be of a quality suitable for the production of certified seed.

Certified seed shall be the progeny of foundation, registered, or certified seed that is so handled as to maintain satisfactory genetic identity and purity and that has been approved and certified by the certifying agency."

State and Federal plant breeders for years have been developing superior varieties of forage crops. For a long time, however, less than 1 percent of the legume and grass seed produced in the United States was of improved varieties.

The great demand for seed of the newer varieties in forage-producing areas meant the draining away of the early generations of seed stocks, which should have been used to increase seed. The small supply of breeder seed has been the principal limiting factor in production of adequate supplies of foundation seed of some varieties of legumes and grasses. But, equally important, no procedure for maintaining and distributing foundation seed of forage crops on a Nation-wide basis was available.

The Foundation Seed Project was initiated in 1948 to set up the organization and financial procedure whereby foundation seed stocks of improved varieties of legumes and grasses could be rapidly produced from breeder seed and distributed. Methods necessary to maintain genetic purity of the varieties were devised. It is a cooperative effort utilizing the facilities of State and Federal agencies and the commercial seed trade. In 1952, 34 States participated. The cooperating agencies include State experiment stations, State extension services, State seed certifying agencies, State foundation seed organizations,the International Crop Improvement Association, the American Seed Trade Association, and the Department of Agriculture.

The operational phases of the program are concerned with producing, assembling, distributing, and limited stockpiling of breeder and foundation seed. The coordination of those functions is the responsibility of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering of the Department of Agriculture. Financial assistance for contracting for the maintenance of adequate reserves of breeder and foundation seed stocks is provided by the Grain Branch of the Production and Marketing Administration, representing the Commodity Credit Corporation of the Department of Agriculture. Each State is represented by a State foundation seed representative, who is responsible for initiating the foundation seed work and handling operations in his State.

Direction of the program is the responsibility of a 16-man advisory group. Its members serve without pay. It is known as the Planning Conference and includes two representatives of each of these organizations: Northeastern Experiment Station Region, Southern Experiment Station Region, North Central Experiment Station Region, Western Experiment Station Region, International Crop Improvement Association, American Seed Trade Association, Production and Marketing Administration, and Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering.

A superior variety developed by a plant breeder is tested for regional adaptation under the supervision of the Regional Forage Crops Technical Committee. A new variety found to be good in part or all of a region is then recommended by this technical committee to the Planning Conference for inclusion in the Project.

The Planning Conference determines the areas for foundation seed production for each new variety, estimates the requirements for breeder and foundation seed stocks, and cooperates with State workers in the areas of production in the development of the seed-increase program.

The breeders' seed of a new variety is assigned by the Planning Conference to State foundation seed representatives in the States where it has been determined that foundation seed is to be produced. All foundation seed is grown under contract with individual growers, who are selected by the State foundation seed representative. Because the number of growers needed is small, only the most dependable growers, located in an area with favorable soil and climate, are chosen.

The foundation seed of all varieties included in the program is allocated by the Planning Conference to State foundation seed representatives for planting to produce registered seed. The registered seed is handled by commercial seedsmen, who sell it to growers for the production of certified seed. The certified seed, which is subsequently used by farmers for forage plantings, is distributed through regular seed trade channels.

The 12 varieties included in the program in 1952 were Atlantic, Buffalo, Narragansett, and Ranger alfalfas; Kenland red clover; Tift Sudan-grass; Climax lespedeza; and five blend lines of Midland red clover.

The 27 million pounds of certified seed of Ranger alfalfa available for 1953 planting was the largest amount ever produced of an improved alfalfa variety. It was almost double the amount farmers had the previous year. The market had almost twice as much Buffalo alfalfa seed in 1952 as was available in 1951. The supply of certified Atlantic alfalfa for hay and pasture seedings had increased from 150,818 pounds in 1950 to 1,511,000 pounds in 1952. Narragansett alfalfa was added to the list of varieties in the Project in 1951. Yet it was possible to produce more than 5,000 pounds of certified seed the first year in addition to increasing breeder and foundation seed supplies.

Enough stock seed of Kenland red clover was distributed to make available 215,000 pounds of certified seed in 1950, the first large-volume production. Yet in 1952, only 2 "years later, there was a tenfold increase in certified seed production, which meant farmers had 2,000,000 pounds of planting. The increase of Tift Sudangrass has been comparable.

THE POTATO TUBER is subject to many diseases caused by fungus and bacterial pathogens and viruses. Disease-free seed is important.

The quality of seed potatoes has greatly improved since 1925 through the elimination of tuber-transmitted virus diseases by roguing, tuber-unit planting, tuber indexing, early harvest and pulling or killing vines, the use of winter field test plots; the use of immune or resistant varieties; the enforcement of high standards of certification; the production and use of better foundation seed; and the production of certified seed.

Many tuber-transmitted diseases of potatoes, like mosaic, curly dwarf, spindle tuber, leaf roll, and blackleg (Erwinia atroseptica), cannot be controlled by spraying or dusting. The only way is to remove the diseased plants from the field, a procedure that is commonly termed roguing. Seed pieces, tops, and tubers are removed sufficiently far from the field and destroyed to prevent winged aphid vectors from migrating from the rogued plants or parts back to the potato field. Roguing usually commences when the plants are 4 to 6 inches above the ground. The first roguing is followed by roguing at weekly or 10-day intervals throughout the season.