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Sorghum / Cereals Testing
SGS has expertise in testing sorghum and cereal grains. We understand the problems of too much moisture on media for sorghum germination and the problems Fusarium spp. can cause in wheat germination tests. Our experience includes soft, winter, spring wheat, oats, rye, barley, triticale, millets, sudangrass and many types of sorghum.
- Mechanical Purity and All-States Noxious Weed Examinations
- Standard Germination Tests
- Sand Emergence Testing
- Cold Tests
- Accelerated Aging Test
- Tetrazolium Test
- Automatic Retesting
- Multi-Species Germination Remarks : Warm Germination Test
Standard Germination Tests
Standard Germination Tests are conducted in accordance with the Association of Official Seed Analysts (AOSA) "Rules for Testing Seeds"; ISTA tests are also available.
Submit a 250 gram sample for these tests.
Sand Emergence Testing
Sand Emergence Testing is one of the best estimates of field emergence when wheat seed lots have fungal infection such as Fusarium spp. The sand provides uniform water uptake, facilitates root growth on damaged seedlings, and tends to suppress fungal growth related to seed coat infections. Duration is seven days.
Accelerated Aging Test
Accelerated Aging has been useful as a vigor test for wheat. The seed is aged at 41C for 72 hours prior to planting under normal germination test conditions. Submit at least 250 grams.
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Tetrazolium Test Tetrazolium Test is a quick viability test completed within 24 to 48 hours. Two hundred seeds are prepared and stained with tetrazolium solution and evaluated for viability. |
Automatic Retesting
SGS offers customers an automatic retesting option when ‘apparent’ seed quality issues occur. This retest will provide additional information on the seed lot to facilitate seed quality decisions. Currently, this service is offered on corn, soybeans, sorghum and cotton.
The customers may choose the thresholds that would trigger the auto-retest. For instance, if a customer wants samples to be auto-retested when the warm germination falls between 79% and 94%, the thresholds for a warm germ test would be set at 80<=Germ<=93. Samples falling into this range receive an automatic retest.
Retest threshold ranges can be applied to most germination-based tests and can be easily adjusted depending on the need of customers.
There is no charge for setting up auto-retest thresholds, and once auto-retesting is in place the samples will be retested within 24 hours. Retests are billed to customer accounts with the same rate as the regular tests.
Multi-Species Germination Remarks : Warm Germination Test
When germination tests are evaluated, we describe the abnormalities and fungal species present to help explain the cuase of a seed quality problem. Below are listed the most commonly observed problems and possible cause of these respective problems. Tests below 90% may have the following remarks.
Seedling Abnormalities
| *Physical/Mechanical Abnormalities: Observed Symptom |
Possible Cause |
| Shredded Leaves (SL) | Impact to shoot and coleoptile |
| Short; damaged hypocotyls (SDH) | Impacts to hypocotyl/radicle |
| Insufficient Roots (IR) | Impacts to radicle |
| Stunted Shoots (SS) | Damage within or below growing point |
| No Shoots (NS) | Damage within or below growing point |
| Detached Mesocotyl (DM) | Handling or Frost Damage |
| *Physiological Abnormalities: Observed Symptom |
Possible Cause |
| Watery Hypocotyl [Clear Hypocotyls] (WH) | Physiological weakness |
| Partial Coleoptile (PC) | Aged Seed |
| *Pathological Abnormalities: Observed Symptom |
Possible Cause |
| Decayed seedling (DS) [root and hypocotyls] | Fungal infection |
| Decayed Cotyledons (DC) | Primary infection by a Fungus |
| Bacteria (BAC) | Bacteria noted on 5% or more of the dead seed |
Fungi Observed
| Rhizopus spp. (RH) | Sugar leakage from seed |
| Fusarium spp. (FU) | Field Fungus – seed/seedling decay |
| Aspergillus flavus (AF) | Storage fungus – high seed moisture |
| Aspergillus niger (AN) | Storage fungus – high seed moisture |
| Penicillium spp. (PE) | Storage fungus – high seed moisture |
| Alternaria spp. (AL) | Field weathering promotes occurence |
*Fusarium, Aspergillus and Penicillium spp. are reported only when they are infecting more than 2% dead seeds.
Recommended References:
Seed Technologist Training Manual – available at www.seedtechnology.net/publications.htm
