Quality seed production of pulses

1. SUBMITTED BY,
SANDESH,G.M
2016610811
TNAU, MADURAI

2.  The food and agriculture organization (fao) recognizes 10 primary and 5 minor pulses, which
are cultivated worldwide over 105 countries.
From the standpoint of production, dry beans (19.7 m t), fieldpea (10.4 mt), chickpea (9.7 m
t), cowpea (5.7 m t), lentil (3.6 m t) and pigeonpea (3.5 m t) are the most important (fao,2010).
 Globally, pulses are the second most important group of crops after cereals. in 2009, the
global pulses
 Production was 61.5 million tons from an area of 70.6 million ha with an average yield of 871
kg/ha.
 Developing countries contribute about 74% to the global pulses production and the remaining
comes from developed countries.

3.  India grows such a variety of grain legumes which none of the countries in the world grows.
 There are nine major grain legumes (chickpea, pigeonpea, urdbean, mungbean, horse gram,
moth bean,lathyrus, lentil and peas) which together account for more than 95% of the total
area under pulses.
 India is the largest producer (18.09 million tonnes in 2013-2014) and consumer of pulses in
the world has low average annual productivity growth rate for most of the pulses.
 Grain legumes are an important source of dietary protein for many people in developing
world with a protein content meanly twice as high as that in cereals.
 They are the cheap source of quality protein that complements the protein in cereals and
thus enhances the nutritional value of cereal dominated diets.

4.  Among major production constraints, availability of quality seed of improved
varieties has been a major constraint in enhancing production and productivity of
pulses in India.
 Despite a target of 10% of seed replacement rate we could not achieve even more
than 7% at country level.
 This is primarily due to lack of organized seed production programme for pulses.
 There is poor conversion of breeder seed to foundation and certified seed.
 Even true picture of conversion of breeder seed to foundation and certified seed is
not available for most the states.
 Participation of growers in seed production should be encouraged by way of
simplifying the registration and seed certification procedures.

5.  Soil Requirement: Red sandy loam soils or well drained black soils are suitable
 Land selection :
The land selected should not be cultivated with the same crop in the previous season
and should be free of volunteer plants.
The land should be fertile with neutral pH.
The soil should be lightwith proper drainage facility.
 Seed selection and sowing :
 Certified seeds of good quality should be obtained from authenticated source.
 Seeds should be healthy with good germination percentage.
 Remove the off colour and out sized seeds.

6.  Roguing
Roguing should be done at a 7 – 10 days interval till the completion of the
flowering stage.
Off types and diseased plants affected by leaf spot, stem canker, wilt, yellow
mosaic and sterility virus are removed from the seed field to maintain healthy
crops.
Plants of early and late flowering types should also be removed.
 Field inspection:
Before flowering followed by the second during flowering and maturity stage.
 Field Standard:
 Seed standards: The percentage of maximum physical purity of certified and

7.  Land selection :
The land selected should be free from volunteer plants.
 Seed selection and sowing :
Good quality certified seeds should be obtained from an authorised dealer. Seeds
should be healthy with a good germination percentage.
 Roguing:
 Roguing should be done from vegetative phase to reproductive phase.
 Offtypes are removed based on the leaf colour, plant stature, leaf shape, pod colour,
flower colour and seed colour.
 Maximum percentage of off types permitted at final inspection is 0.10% for
foundation seed production and 0.20% for certified seed production.

8.  Field inspection :
A minimum of two inspections. The first inspection is done during flowering followed by
second in flowering and maturity stage.
 Field standard :
 Seed standards:
 The percentage of maximum physical purity:
 Foundation seeds – 98%
 Certified seeds - 98%
 Germination capacity – 75%
 Moisture content - 9%

9.  Seeds can serve as the delivery system not only for improved genetics but also for
new planting and production methods and crop protection strategies that improve
the overall efficiency of agriculture and reduce its environmental impact.
 1.Maintaining Genetic Purity.
 2. Maintaining proper isolation distance.
 3. Hybridity and varietal purity tests.
 4. Seed enhancement.
 5. Proper storage conditions for quality seeds.
 6. Human resource development.
 7. A formal seed supply system.

10.  Genetic purity refers to the percentage of contamination by seeds or genetic
material of other varieties or species.
 In practice, practical seed genetic purity standards have been established by state
seed laws and by seed certification agencies to ensure that the purchaser receives
seed that is within certain purity tolerances.
 Earlier generations of seed (e.g., foundation or breeder seed) have stricter
standards in order to be able to meet the certified seed purity criteria.
 The main sources of contamination of a seed crop are the prior crop grown in a
field, transfer of pollen from a nearby field, and mixtures during harvesting and
handling.

11.  To ensure that pollination occurs only among plants of the desired variety, fields
must be isolated either by distance or flowering time from potentially
contaminating pollen sources.
 Isolation is primarily to prevent mechanical mixtures during harvesting.
 Related weeds and volunteer crop plants or home gardens can also be sources of
pollen contamination.
 Certifying agencies inspect fields and the surrounding areas to ensure that
isolation standards are met.

12.  Mainly in hybrid pigeonpea.
 Hybrid seed cannot be saved for replanting without losing the benefits of the
original variety as these traits randomly segregate among the saved seed, not
reliably producing true copies of the original variety.
 Protein and DNA molecular marker analyses are also widely used for hybrid
purity testing.
 Protein analysis is often preferred because it is less expensive, but DNA tests are
becoming increasingly affordable.

13.  Seed quality or seed enhancement refers to various technologies used to increase
the consistency in performance of the seed with respect to its vigour, leading to
improved crop yield and quality of produce.
 pulses seed treatment with recommended fungicides and insecticides besides
inoculation with rhizobium or PSB culture.
1.Seed coating:
2.Seed pelleting:
3.Seed priming:

14.  The storage of seeds in coastal or high humid area is a difficult task.
 High quantity of seed is required to pulses for sowing in unit area; it becomes
further difficult to store seeds in humid areas.
 Human resource development programmes for maintenance of genetic purity, seed
production procedures, safe storage and seed testing with minimum parameters of
quality seed must be launched to ensure quality seed supply of pulses locally.

15.  A formal seed supply system characterized by a vertical organized production and
distribution of improved and high yielding varieties, using strict quality control
can further maximize the pulses productivity.
 It is estimated that quality seed can increase the yield levels by 1525% in
comparison to the yield of local seed available with farmers.