SEED PRODUCTION IN LUCERNE
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Land Requirement
Land shall be free of volunteer plants.
Field Standards
A. General Requirements
Isolation
- Isolation: Fields shall be isolated with following specified isolation distances.
Contaminants |
Minimum distance (meters) |
Foundation |
Certified |
Fields of other varieties
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400
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100 |
Fields of the same variety not conforming to varietal purity requirements for certification
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400
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100 |
 Lucerne
B. Specific requirements
Factor
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Maximum permitted (%)* |
Foundation |
Certified |
Off-types
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0.020
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1.0
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**Objectionable weed plants
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None
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0.050
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*Maximum permitted at and after flowering.
**Objectionable weed shall be: Dodder (Cuscuta spp.)
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Season
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Seed production is done once in a year during summer months.
- Green fodder should be harvested during first week of March and allowed for seed production in such a way that the peak period of flowering should coincide with summer.
Pre-sowing Seed treatment
- Treat the seeds with 600 g of Rhizobium and 600 g of Phosphobacteria before sowing.
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- Seed rate
20 kg/ha
- Seed treatment
Treat the seeds with 600 g of Azospirillum and 600g of Phosphobacteria or 1200g of Azophos.
- Spacing
25 cm x 10 cm
- Foliar application
Spray Borax @150 ppm to increase the seed quality. Spray ZnSO4 + Borax at 0.3% to improve pod and seed weight and also to increase the germination potential and vigour of seeds.
- Harvesting
Hand pick the pods at maturity stage.
Seed Stadardsn
Factor |
Standards for each class |
Foundation |
Certified |
Pure seed (minimum) |
98.0% |
98.0% |
Inert matter (maximum) |
2.0% |
2.0% |
Other crop seeds (maximum) |
10/kg
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20/kg
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Total Weed seeds (maximum)
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5/kg
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10/kg
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*Objectionable weed seeds (maximum)
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5/kg
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10/kg
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Germination including hard seeds (minimum) |
80% |
80% |
Moisture (maximum)
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10.0%
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10.0%
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For vapour-proof containers (maximum)
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7.0%
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7.0%
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*Objectionable weed shall be: Dodder (Cuscuta spp.)
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Source
The Professor and Head
Department of Seed Science & Technology
TNAU, Coimbatore-641003.
Phone:0422-6611363
Email: seed@tnau.ac.in
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