PLS 556 - SEED PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY
Fall of Even Numbered Years 3
Credits
Instructor: Dennis TeKrony
Objectives : This course is designed to provide upper level undergraduate and beginning graduate students with
a basic knowledge of seeds and their role in agriculture. Principles followed during seed production, conditioning,
testing, and marketing will be presented. The seed laws, regulations, and organizations relating to seed distribution
and use will be discussed. The course objectives are to:
- 1. Develop an understanding of seed development, germination, vigor, deterioration and the relationship between
laboratory tests and field performance.
- 2. Acquaint the students with the principles of seed production for agronomic and horticultural crops within and outside
of the region of adaptation and the techniques used in seed conditioning.
- 3. Understand seed increase systems, seed testing and the laws and regulations related to marketing high quality seed.
Schedule : The course will have two (50 minute) lecture-discussion periods (M and W, 10-10:50am)
and one (4 hour) laboratory period (T, 1-4:50pm) per week for twelve weeks of the Fall term on even numbered years.
PREREQUISITES: PLS 386 or consent of instructor
TEXT: Copeland, L.O. and M.B. McDonald, 1995, Principles of Seed Science and Technology, Chapman and Hall, New York, NY.
LECTURE TOPICS :
- Seed Development and Maturation
- Development and Release of Public and Private Varieties
- Seed Production: Principles and Production Within Area of Adaptation (soybean, wheat, and tall fescue)
- Hybrid Seed Production (corn, sorghum, onion)
- Seed Production: Principles and Production Outside the Area of Adaptation (grass and legume seed, dry seed vegetables,
fleshy fruit vegetables, and flower seed)
- Seed Germination and Vigor
- Relationship of Seed Maturation to Seed Germination and Vigor
- Relationship of Seed Quality to Crop Performance
- Seed Legislation and Law Enforcement
- Seed Deterioration and Storage
LABORATORY TOPICS :
- Reproductive Development: Trip - Spindletop Experimental Farm
- Seed Production: Trip - F.W. Rickard Tobacco Seed, Winchester, KY
- Seed Certification: Trip - Woodford County Experimental Farm
- Seed Production: Soybean and Wheat: Trip - Spindletop Experimental Farm
- Seed Production: Hybrid Corn Seed: Trip - Caverndale Farms, Danville, KY
- Seed Sampling, Moisture and Storage Experiment: Trip - Foundation Seed Proj. Spindletop Farm
- Seed Testing: Crop and Cultivar Purity: Trip - Division of Regulatory Services
- Seed Testing: Germination and Viability: Trip - Seed Laboratory, Division of Regulatory Services
- Seed Testing: Vigor
- Seed Enhancement
- Seed Conditioning: Principles: Trip - Foundation Seed Proj. Spindletop Farm
- Seed Conditioning: Finishing: Trip - Foundation Seed Proj. Spindletop Farm
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