What is a high quality seed?
The best quality seed is nearly 100 percent pure. To meet certified seed standards for small grains, seed must be more than 98 percent pure. Good seed is pure (of the chosen variety), full and uniform in size, viable (more than 80% germination with good seedling vigor), and free of weed seeds, seed-borne diseases, pathogens, insects or other matter. Seed should be properly labeled.Nuclear seed : This is the hundred percent genetically pure seed with physical purity and produced by the original breeder/Institute /State Agriculture University (SAU) from basic nucleus seed stock.
How to identify good quality seeds?
The seed with physical quality should have uniform size, weight, and colour and should be free from stones, debris, and dust, leafs, twigs, stems, flowers, fruit well without other crop seeds and inert material. It also should be devoid of shriveled, diseased mottled, moulded, discoloured, damaged and empty seeds. The following are symptoms of poor quality seeds: low germination, mixed varieties, low plant vigor, diseased plants, or the introduction of weeds.
Who is the biggest seed supplier?
The world’s largest seed company, Monsanto, accounts for almost one-quarter (23%) of the global proprietary seed market. The top 3 companies (Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta) together account for $10,282 million, or 47% of the worldwide proprietary seed market. BASF, Bayer/Monsanto, ChemChina-Syngenta, and Corteva Agriscience are the four big corporations that currently own the rights to over two thirds of the world’s seed and pesticide sales.