Methods Of Seed Treatment: Choose The Best One

Finding an economically viable seed treatment approach is far more likely now than it has ever been given the state of technical development we are in. From simple dressing to coating and pelleting, seed treatment complexity varies. Although seed care, like infant care, starts with the mother, the treatment we are principally concerned with in this article is that which is provided to the seeds themselves at the stage practically immediately before sowing to control plant illnesses that are transmitted by seeds.

This is a list of the many seed treatments: An alternative to chemical seed treatment is physical therapy: Alternative ways for treating seeds have been developed in light of the negative impact that chemicals have on ecosystems and organisms. Agrochemicals are less suitable for usage since they harm the ecosystem, the land, and ultimately the food that humans and animals eat. Investigating the utilization of sustainable techniques in this century, such as physical techniques, is crucial. They are now commercially viable thanks to new technologies that can be used to apply them.

Treatment for hot water:

Using temperatures hot enough to kill the organism but not quite hot enough to harm the seed, hot water treatment is a very old procedure that is currently employed as a very effective option to manage many seed-borne illnesses. Although chemical treatments can result in the loss of seed viability, this approach of treating seed remains a common way of eliminating pathogens since it is more environmentally friendly and effective. A well-known use of hot water therapy is the treatment of the bacterial disease black rot of crucifers and the fungal disease blackleg. Warm up loose seed in a porous bag, such as a cheese cloth, before putting it in the hot water for 10 minutes. The quantity of seed should be exactly right to enable fast and complete watering. Put the pre-warmed seed in a water bath that can maintain the desired temperature. Treatment duration must be precise. It must be carried out precisely and with care. A few degrees warmer or colder than advised may not be able to manage the illness or may even destroy the seed. Following treatment, submerge the bags in cold water to cease the heating process. Spread the seeds thinly on a paper towel once they have cooled to promote drying. that seed treated with hot water be treated with a protective seed treatment with fungicide, with thiram being the most usually advised fungicide (do not use treated seed for food or feed). As soon as the seed is completely dry, plant it. Store treated seed nowhere. Suggestions for cruciferous vegetables include eggplant, pepper, tomato, cucumber, carrot, spinach, lettuce, celery, cabbage, turnip, and radish. For seeds of various other crops, including peas, beans, cucumber, potato, lettuce, sweet corn, and beets, hot water treatment might be harmful or impractical. The suggested treatment may cause harm to some hybrid cauliflower cultivars. Old seeds may be badly harmed by this treatment, hence a small sample of any seed lot older than a year should be treated first before being tested for germination to gauge the potential degree of harm. Hot water can be used to cure certain types of seeds.

Dry heat therapy:

Several methods of thermal seed treatment have been used in practice. Solarization, a straightforward thermal treatment method in which seeds are heated by sunlight irradiation, is occasionally used in warm climates but is of little interest in industrial agriculture due to low accuracy and challenges with the large-scale application. Although dry hot air has been created for use against insects in grain stocks and is administered in Australia at rates up to 150 tonnes per hour, in most instances, it has not demonstrated a strong ability to combat fungal diseases in seeds. Value-added vegetable seeds are often utilized in Korea, Japan, and other nations as a result of dry heat treatment (DHT), a potent and chemical-free method of inactivating bacteria and viruses found in seeds. Lupine seeds can be treated with dry heat for 4–7 days at 650 C or for up to 4 days at 700 C to lessen, if not completely eradicate, anthracnose infection. Heat treatment with aeration: Several hot water and hot humid air treatments were discovered to cleanse seeds from seed-borne diseases in the late 19th century. During the first half of the 20th century, seed firms employed the hot water treatment procedure. It had significant drawbacks, though, including high treatment costs and poor precision that frequently resulted in an incomplete treatment effect or reduced germinability. As a result, it was almost entirely abandoned for cereals after the 1960s when readily available, inexpensive, and effective chemicals had become available.

Aerated steam treatment—hot, humid air—has been suggested as a solution to hot water treatment's drawbacks, and when used in a fluidized bed, it can effectively sanitize vast quantities of seeds. There are essentially two steps to the thermal treatment process: The heating step involves heating the seeds for a predetermined amount of time in the air that is the right temperature and relative humidity for effective disinfestation, followed by a cooling phase that halts the treatment process before any damage is done to the seeds. The gadgets were designed to provide precise control of key parameters (temperature, air humidity, treatment time, air flow, and treatment and cooling durations). After being exposed to hot air for 7 hours at 700 C, anthracnose seed infection in lupin was decreased by 80% and eliminated after a comparable amount of time at 750 C. Aerated heat treatment seed treatment against combined infections of S. nodorum and Fusarium spp., as well as for T. caries on wheat, infections of D. teres and B. sorokiniana on barley, and infections of D. teres and B. sorokiniana on diseases successfully controlled pathogens. Applications for treating sugarcane stalks against ratoon stunting disease and other sett-borne illnesses as well as lobelia seeds against Alternaria infection have been developed for commercial use.

Radiation treatment:
 
Chemical pesticides used to treat seeds have several unfavorable impacts, most notably the persistence of hazardous principles in the environment and plant systems. Nevertheless, because exposure levels sufficient to suppress infections frequently also destroy the seeds, radioactive irradiation has not been extensively employed. For the control of microbial infestations, many forms of electromagnetic radiation, including UV, high-energy electrons, and gamma rays, have been employed as alternative seed treatment agents.

Gamma irradiation at non-harmful levels (0.10-0.50 kiloGray) reduces microbial infestation in seeds of all four rice cultivars tested. The highest rate of seed germination was noted among the seeds irradiated with 0.10 kiloGray (kGy), while root growth was stimulated by low doses of gamma-ray. Although laser light has numerous uses in agriculture, more research is needed to support its potential use as an alternative for the management of diseases that start in the seed, particularly for internal fungi. Even laser therapy has been said to be successful, however, it is of little practical use since laser beams are confined and the entire surface of the seed must be equally exposed for good impact. Recently, it was suggested that low-intensity laser irradiation could be a different way to manage illnesses that are transmitted through maize seeds. The use of "ozone technology" for pre-sowing seed treatment is the major novelty of the technology that has been created. It makes it possible to activate seeds in an ecologically benign manner, which results in a 10-15% increase in crop capacity.

Biological and chemical seed treatment:

Due to its broad spectrum ability to control plant diseases and pests taking less time, chemical seed treatment is now widely used and practiced throughout the world. Additionally, several automatic treatment machines with high levels of accuracy are available, making it a less labor-intensive task. Fungicides or insecticides are chemical seed treatments that are administered to seeds to manage diseases that affect seeds and seedlings; insecticides are used to combat insect pests. Several products for treating seeds come in fungicide and pesticide package deals. Chemical seed treatments often don't provide advantages for crop output, drought resistance, or root growth. Beneficial microorganisms, such as fungi and bacteria (species of Trichoderma, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, and Rhizobia, among others), can be used to treat seeds to improve a wide range of conditions.

A wide range of biotic, abiotic, and physiological stressors on seed and seedlings are reduced when the seed is treated with beneficial microorganisms, such as fungi and bacteria (species of Trichoderma, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Rhizobia, etc.). Several examples have been documented where the inoculation of seeds with such biological agents in conjunction with priming (biopriming) has been shown to increase and stabilize the efficiency of biological agents, possibly promoting quicker and more uniform seed germination and plant development. Using emersion methods, treat seeds: Seed emersion techniques include steeping seeds for varied lengths of time in aqueous or solvent-based liquids at room temperature or above, with or without the addition of chemicals to kill seed-borne organisms. A wide range of biotic, abiotic, and physiological stressors on seed and seedlings are reduced when the seed is treated with beneficial microorganisms, such as fungi and bacteria (species of Trichoderma, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Rhizobia, etc.). Several examples have been documented where the inoculation of seeds with such biological agents in conjunction with priming (biopriming) has been shown to increase and stabilize the efficiency of biological agents, possibly promoting quicker and more uniform seed germination and plant development. Using emersion methods, treat seeds: Seed emersion techniques include steeping seeds for varied lengths of time in aqueous or solvent-based liquids at room temperature or above, with or without the addition of chemicals to kill seed-borne organisms.

Report this Page