My web log will consist of short pieces which will also be located in the subject matter sections of the site. If you have landed at the Seed In Context Blog from a search engin you may no know that the fixed version of the site is located at:
I would be happy to get additional contributores for the site. Contact me if you would like to become a contributor and publish your own lead posts.
There will not be any anonymous posts, unless you can give me a good reason. Policy is controversial in many countries, and if you are involved in one of those controversies, there may be good reasons to remove your name. Contact me for discussion.
Keep the language in posts clean and please identify your underlying assumptions to the extent which you can.
Please let me know if you see problems with the post and comments. The comment section here is a good place for this kind of comment as well as requests for additional services. Contact information can be found at: Contact Us
Seedborne Disease and Control
Seedborne disease refers to the particular plant diseases that are transmitted by seed. In some cases the transmission on seed is insignificant compared to the population of disease organisms that exist in soil or on weed species. In other cases, the transmission on seed is the primary means by which a disease spreads. While we are cautious about any type of disease on seed, it is this latter set of diseases that we must be most vigilant in controlling.
Planting infected seed may result in a widespread distribution of disease within the crop, and an increased number of initial infection sites from which the disease can spread. As an example, consider the development of ascochyta blight in a chickpea crop. Since there is a high rate of seed-to-seedling transmission of this disease, even a small percentage of infected seed can result in significant seedling infection in the field. For a seed lot with 0.1 per cent ascochyta infection (one infected seed in 1,000 seeds) and a planting density of three to four plants/ft.2, 175 infected seedlings per acre could potentially result. This is a substantial amount of early infection for such an aggressive disease. Seed treatments are used on many crops to control a variety of pests. These are commonly used to ensure uniform stand establishment by protecting against soilborne pathogens and insects. Seed treatments can often be used to control pathogens that occur on or in the seed. These are not the only available method to control a particular pest; should be compared to alternative pest control measures for cost, efficacy, safety, and so on. Seed treatments can often be supplemented with other control measures to achieve satisfactory results.