CEREAL SEED TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

About nine thousand years ago, somewhere in the foothills of the Zargos mountains in the Near East, men began to put cereal seeds into the soil with a view to harvesting crops. The early Egyptians stored seeds, under governmental supervision, for sowing during the following crop season. The early Romans recognized the advantages of pure seed for crop produc tion. The first organized seed trade started in Germany, France, and Great Britain late in the 17th century and early in the 18th century. The first seeq testing station was established in Germany approximately one hundred years ago. Since then, remarkable developments have been made in seed technology. Yet, functioning seed industries have been limited mainly to the world's industrialized countries with highly developed agriculture. The main problem of developed countries today is not to increase agricultural produc tion, but to decrease the number of people depending upon agriculture and provide those remaining on the farms with higher incomes. Under these conditions, seed of the highest quality is required to make the new technology profitable and to maximize productivity. In developing countries, increased crop production is the main issue, as the food supply will have to be increased annually by 4 percent to keep pace with population growth and to meet the demand for food; however, in most developing countries the increases have been well below this level in recent years. A provisional seed-status review made in 1970 by FAO, covering ninety seven countries, indicated that more than 90 per cent of the seventy-three developing countries studied would need to develop or strengthen their seed production and supply systems. Seed differs from other inputs in highly significant ways, and these differences create special problems which have to be taken into account in seed industry development. Most important, seed is a living thing, subject to genetic and other transformations and death. Therefore, the maintenance of genetic characteristics and physical quality demands well defined procedures and control from breeding to farm delivery.