Department of Agronomy

Visayas State University

Visca, Baybay City, Leyte

AgSc 111
Post Harvest and Seed Technology
A. Seed Technology

Name: NAYRE, FRANZ JOSEPH B. Date Conducted: Sept. 4, 2018

Lab. Schedule: TUESDAY (7:00-10:00) Date Submitted: Sept. 25, 2018
Rating:____________________

Laboratory Exercise No. 3

Seed Vigor Testing

Introduction:

Seed vigor is an important quality parameter which needs to be assessed to supplement germination
and viability tests to gain insight into the performance of a seed lot in the field or in storage. Several
definitions have been offered to explain seed vigor.
As the germination test is conducted in an optimum condition specific to different species, it is not
always possible to get an idea of the performance of a seed lot in the field on the basis of germination test
in the laboratory. It is mainly because of the reason that field conditions are seldom optimum and the
emerging seeding suffers from one or the other kind of stress. In many cases seed lots having similar
laboratory germinations may give widely differing field emergence values. Similarly. Two seed lots having
the same germination percentage in the laboratory may age differently when stored under ambient
condition. These two situations indicate the incompleteness of germination test in assessing the
performance of a seed lot in the field or storage. This offers scope and possibility to determine vigor of a
seed lot so that its field and storage performance can be assessed.

Objectives:
1. To understand the importance of determining seed vigor and its relevance to the seeds field
performance and storability.

2. To know some of the methods used in testing seed vigor and the principle behind each test.