FIELD INSPECTION
&
FIELD COUNT
Prepared by
Dr. Pusarla Susmitha
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. Seed Science and Technology
FIELD INSPECTION & RE-INSPECTION
• The inspection of standing seed crops is an essential step in
verifying conformity of seed crops to prescribed certification
standards.
• To collect information on cropping history of the field to
verify whether the seed field meets the prescribed land
requirements.
• The Certification Agency may at its discretion, also perform
one or more re-inspections over and above the minimum
number of inspections prescribed, if considered necessary
CROP STAGES OF FIELD INSPECTION
• The number of field inspections and the stages of crop growth
at which the field inspections should be conducted vary from
crop to crop. It depends upon duration and nature of
pollination of the seed crop.
1. Pre flowering stage
2. Flowering stage
3. Post flowering and pre-harvesting stage
4. Inspection during harvest
Assessment of seed crop yield
• It is necessary to avoid malpractices at the final stage during
harvest operation. The seed certification officer is expected to fix
the appropriate seed yield.
Liable for rejection report
• If the seed crop fails to meet with any one factor as per the
standards, Liable for rejection report is prepared, the signature of
the producer is obtained and sent to Deputy Director of
Agriculture (Seed Certification) within 24 hours.
Re-inspection
• For the factors which can be removed without hampering the
seed quality, the producer can apply for re-inspection to the
concerned Deputy Director of Agriculture Seed Certification
within 7 days from the date of first inspection order.
• For re-inspection half of the inspection charge is collected
CONTAMINANTS IN FIELD COUNT
a. Off Type
Plant that differs in morphological characters from the rest of the population of a
crop variety.
Off-type may belong to same spp. or different spp. of a given variety. Plants of a
different variety are also included under off-types.
b. Volunteer Plant
Volunteer plants are the plants of the same kind growing naturally from seed that
remains in the fields from a previous crop.
c. Pollen Shedders
In hybrid seed production involving male sterility, the plants of ‘B’ line present in
‘A’ line are called Pollen shedders.
Sometimes ‘A’ line tends to exhibit symptoms of fertile anthers in the ear heads of
either on the main tiller or side tiller and these are called Partials. These partials
are also counted as pollen shedders.
d. Shedding Tassels:These are plants which shed or shedding pollen in female
parent rows. When 5 cm or more of the entire spike shed pollen they are also
counted as Shedding tassels.
e. Inseparable Crop Plants: Wheat, Barley, oats, gram, & Triticale
FIELD COUNT
• Field count is a representative sample of plants taken at random
from a seed plot for recording the observation on off types,
pollen shedders, diseased plants, inseperable other crop plants.
• As per provision of seed certification it is necessary to examine
each and every plant in the seed plot for contaminant. Since it is
not possible to do so field counts are taken.
• During each field inspection field counts are taken randomly
covering of the seed plot and observations are made on the
plants from each selected field counts.
• The number of counts taken varies according to the area of the
seed plot.
• Minimum 5 counts are required to be taken for area of 2.0 ha
and one additional count is to be taken for every additional area
of two hectare or part thereof.
Procedure for Taking Field Count
A) For Closely Sown/ Tillering Crops: (1000 plants or tillers per
count)
1) Enter the seed plot from a randomly selected site.
2) Count number of plants or heads per step at randomly selected five
locations ad work out the average number of plants/ heads per step.
3) Calculate the number of steps required to complete a count.
4) Take required number of steps in that row to complete one count in
that row to inspect few heads/plants, then cross over 2 or 3 rows and
take few steps in next row for inspecting another few plants or heads.
5) Repeat this till required number of counts are taken.
6) Record number of contaminants observed in each count in the
inspection report
Examples: Paddy, wheat, Bajra, Sorghum, Barley
Procedure for Taking Field Count
B) For Wide Spaced Crops (100 plants per count)
1) Enter the seed plot from a randomly selected site.
2) Inspect 100 plants in any row or inspect half the plants of one
count in one row and remaining half in 2nd or 3rd row.
3) Move across the seed field covering all portions and take requisite
number of counts on the basis of area of the seed plot.
4) Record the number of contaminant observed in each count in the
inspection report.
Examples: Maize, Groundnut, Okra, Brinjal, Chilly, Cole crops,
Cucurbits, Redgram, Cotton
B) For Medium Spaced Crops (500 plants per count)
Examples: Beans, cowpea, sesamum, sunhemp, mustard
No. of Field Inspections during crop stages in different crops
THANK YOU
