Get the best seed planted
Good crops need good seeds
.THIS subject comes around every year and it is to do with seed quality.
So what issues are constantly in the minds of all farmers when purchasing or growing planting seed for their next crop?
They are firstly concerned with germination percentage and vigour.
Fairly easy to explain these points, because planting dead or non-viable seed is a big waste of time and money.
Secondly is the ability of the seed to have an even emergence, which can also encompass vigour.
We certainly do not need any staggered germination timings for any crop and USA research that I have actually observed in real time videos, certainly indicates that an even germination and emergence of all planted seeds is most important for better or maximising yields.
This evenness of emergence for crops like mung beans is of huge importance and makes future management decisions much easier with this evenness.
Thirdly is any disease transmission possibilities and we see plenty of this potential problem in our winter growing chickpea crops of seed.
The transmission of ascochyta blight and botrytis
grey mould is very possible, plus other diseases that unfortunately form on chickpea seed crops during a wet harvest time.
All these diseases can impact on germination.
Next concern is varietal purity which is surely self-explanatory and I did highlight some years ago that overseas buyers were most concerned with our varietal
purity in our wheat exports.
So ensure that your paddocks of whatever crop are pure in seed variety and this will always stand you in good stead.
Mung beans are particularly sensitive on this issue.
Of course this includes no weed seeds present in the planting sample in these days of herbicide resistance
Finally is seed size and that
can be very difficult to achieve.
It means you may have a lot of seed wastage due to varying sizes present in your sample.
Heavy grading can ensure this evenness of seed size and this will give you a big boost in your own planting machinery seed drop capabilities.
This point is going to come down to how good your machinery is for seed placement and distribution.
So using poor quality or seed of unknown quality is very dangerous and can really put you behind the eight ball.
As my father Alec always said years ago, good quality seed is the cheapest input into any farming enterprise.
Nothing much changed there, has it really?
❝certainly
We do not need any staggered germination...
— Paul McIntosh