SEED STORAGE

What is seed storage - preservation of seed with initial quality until it is needed for planting.

The ability of seed to tolerate moisture loss allows the seed to maintain the viability in dry state. Storage starts in the mother plant itself when it attains physiological maturity. After harvesting the seeds are either stored in ware houses or in transit or in retail shops. During the old age days , the farmers were used farm saved seeds, in little quantity, but introduction of high yielding varieties and hybrids and modernization of agriculture necessitated the development of storage techniques to preserve the seeds.

Objective of seed storage

To maintain initial seed quality viz., germination, physical purity, vigour etc., all along the storage period by providing suitable or even better conditions.  Since the main objective of seed storage is maintenance of an acceptable capacity for germination and emergence, it can only be accomplished by reducing the rate ofdeterioration to the degree required to maintain an acceptable level of quality for the desired period.

Purpose of seed storage

Seed storage is the maintenance of high seed germination and vigour form harvest until planting. Is important to get adequate plant stands in addition to healthy and vigourous plants. Every seed operation has or should have a purpose.  The purpose of seed storage is to maintain the seed in good physical and physiological condition from the time they are harvested until the time they are planted.  Seeds have to be stored, of course, because there is usually a period of time between harvest and planting.  During this period, the seed have to be kept somewhere.  While the time interval between harvest and planting is the basic reason for storing seed, there are other considerations, especially in the case of extended storage of seed.
           
Seed suppliers are not always able to market all the seed they produce during the following planting season.  In many cases, the unsold seed are “carried over” in storage for marketing during the second planting season after harvest.  Problems arise in connection with carryover storage of seed because some kinds, varieties, and lots of seed do not carryover very well.
           
Seeds are also deliberately stored for extended periods so as to eliminate the need to produce the seed every season.  Foundation seed units and others have found this to be an economical, efficient procedure for seed of varieties for which there is limited demand.  Some kinds of seed are stored for extended periods to improve the percentage and rapidity of germination by providing enough time for a “natural” release from dormancy.
Regardless of the specific reasons for storage of seed, the purpose remains the same maintenance of a satisfactory capacity for germination and emergence.  The facilities and procedures used in storage, therefore, have to be directed towards the accomplishment of this purpose.
           
In the broadest sense the storage period for seed begins with attainment of physiological maturity and ends with resumption of active growth of the embryonic axis, i.e., germination.  Seeds are considered to be physiologically and morphologically mature when they reach maximum dry weight.  At this stage dry-down or dehydration of the seed is well underway.  Dry-down continues after physiological maturity until moisture content of the seed and fruit decreases to a level which permits effective and efficient harvest and threshing.  This stage can be termed as harvest maturity.  There usually is an interval of time between physiological maturity and harvestable maturity, and this interval represents the first segment of the storage period.  Any delays in harvesting the seed after they reach harvest maturity prolongs the first segment of the storage period – often to the detriment of seed quality.
           
The second segment of the storage period extends from harvest to  the beginning of conditioning.  Seed in the combine, grain wagon, and bulk storage or drying bins are in storage and their quality is affected by the same factors that affect the quality of seed during the packaged seed segment of the storage period.  The third segment of the storage period begins with the onset of conditioning and ends with packaging.  The fourth segment of the storage period is the packaged seed phase which has already been mentioned.  The packaged seed segment is followed by storage during distribution and marketing, and finally by storage on the farm before and during planting.
               
The control that a seedsman has over the various segments of the storage period for seed varies from a high degree of control from harvest to distribution, to much less control during the postmaturation-preharvest, distribution-marketing, and on-farm segments.  Despite variable degrees of control over the various segments of the storage period, the seedsman’s plans for storage must take into consideration all the segments.  The things that can be done must be done if the quality of the seed is to be maintained.