Author: David Appelman
Planning Unit: Bracken County CES
Major Program: Grains
Plan of Work: Measuring the Agriculture Business
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
Left over seed often happens on farms due to many unforeseen circumstances. Planting delays due to weather, loss of crop acres due to property sales, or changes in market that alters planting decisions. The problem with left over seed is that it will have lower germination rates if any at all.
One local producer brought seed to the Bracken County Extension office for a germination test to determine if it could be salvages after a year in storage. This seed was treated with insecticides and fungicides, so it could not be fed, or used in any other way. The samples was sent to the seed testing lab at the UK Regulatory Services and a second sample was tested by the local ag agent. After 5 days allowed for germination, it was determined that the seed did have an 83.8% germination rate. One week later, the lab confirmed their test results showing an 84% germination rate. These 2 test confirmed the viability of the seed and that it could still be used with confidence by just increasing the seeding rate by 6% of normal (90% was the expected germination for new seed). Even with the increased seeding rate, this saved the producer over $2,000 by utilizing the container of old seed.
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