Seed treatment

Last updated

A seed treatment is a treatment of the seed with either chemical agents or biological or by physical methods. Usually done to provide protection to the seed and improve the establishment of healthy crops. Not to be confused with a seed coating.

Contents

In agriculture and horticulture, coating of the seed is the process of applying exogenous materials to the seed. Also referred to as seed dressing.

A seed coating is the layer of material added to the seed, which may or may not contain a "protectant" (biological or chemical pesticide) or biostimulant applied to the seed and possibly some color... By the amount of material added, it can be divided into: [1]

Seed coating provides the following functions:

Specialist machinery is required to safely and efficiently apply the chemical to the seed. [5] A cement mixer is enough for non-hazardous coating materials. [4] The term "seed dressing" is also used to refer to the process of removing chaff, weed seeds and straw from a seed stock.

History

The earliest seed dressings were of organo-mercurials used to control pests such as oat smut and bunt of wheat. These were available from the 1930s but were ineffective on Pythium and Fusarium species which are pathogens of many crops including cotton, maize and soya. Thiram was therefore developed as a seed treatment in the 1940s to extend the spectrum of diseases that could be controlled. [6] In 1949 ICI commercialised a seed treatment with trade name Mergamma A, containing 1% mercury and 20% lindane, an early example of a product designed to protect the seed from both fungal and insect attack. [7]

Biocide

One seed pesticide, imidacloprid, from the neonicotinoid family of insecticides, is controversial and was banned in France for use on maize, due to that government's belief that the chemical was implicated in recent dramatic drops in bee counts, and possibly in Colony Collapse Disorder. [8] Dust from treated seed is known to have caused at least some health and safety problems particularly from crops such as maize drilled during the main honey flows. Improvements to pneumatic drills to reduce dust release, and improvements to seed treatment compounds to prevent the compound breaking up into dust (dust-off) have been introduced in Europe led by Germany and the Netherlands from 2009 to 2012. Information on seed treatments including the information above can be seen on the registration authority databases. [9]

In order to qualify for the United States Department of Agriculture Organic certification, farmers must seek out organic seed. If they cannot find organic seed, they are allowed to use conventional, untreated seed. Seed treated with pesticide however, is never allowed. [10]

Water-retainer

Water-absorbing polymers may be added around seeds to help with absorbing water dry conditions, or to delay the germination until drought has passed. It has seen some use in the industry. [1]

Fertilizer

Seed coating may contain a dose of fertilizer, typically of plant micronutrients, but also occasionally containing slow-release macronutrients. [1]

Inoculum

A sufficiently-thick seed coating can allow for seeds to be distributed pre-inoculated with symbiotic microbes such as rhizobia for legumes. The formulation of the coating slurry plays a huge role in maintaining the viability of these microbes. The state-of-the-art academic formulation (as of 2019) is able to maintain microbial populations for 9 months, quite a bit behind the viability of the seeds themselves. [4] Despite these drawbacks, inocula have been used in commercially coated seeds, with much obscurity as to whether and how they maintain viability.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pesticide</span> Substance used to destroy pests

Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others. The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all pesticide use globally. Most pesticides are used as plant protection products, which in general protect plants from weeds, fungi, or insects. In general, a pesticide is a chemical or biological agent that deters, incapacitates, kills, or otherwise discourages pests. Target pests can include insects, plant pathogens, weeds, molluscs, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes (roundworms), and microbes that destroy property, cause nuisance, or spread disease, or are disease vectors. Along with these benefits, pesticides also have drawbacks, such as potential toxicity to humans and other species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imidacloprid</span> Chemical compound

Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide belonging to a class of chemicals called the neonicotinoids which act on the central nervous system of insects. The chemical works by interfering with the transmission of stimuli in the insect nervous system. Specifically, it causes a blockage of the nicotinergic neuronal pathway. By blocking nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, imidacloprid prevents acetylcholine from transmitting impulses between nerves, resulting in the insect's paralysis and eventual death. It is effective on contact and via stomach action. Because imidacloprid binds much more strongly to insect neuron receptors than to mammal neuron receptors, this insecticide is more toxic to insects than to mammals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chitosan</span> Chemical compound

Chitosan is a linear polysaccharide composed of randomly distributed β-(1→4)-linked D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. It is made by treating the chitin shells of shrimp and other crustaceans with an alkaline substance, such as sodium hydroxide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agrochemical</span> Any chemical used in agriculture

An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of agricultural chemical, is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical typically refers to biocides alongside synthetic fertilizers. It may also include hormones and other chemical growth agents. Though the application of mineral fertilizers and pesticidal chemicals has a long history, the majority of agricultural chemicals were developed from the 19th century, and their use were expanded significantly during the Green Revolution and the late 20th century. Agriculture that uses these chemicals is frequently called conventional agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MCPA</span> Organic compound used as an herbicide

MCPA is a widely used phenoxy herbicide introduced in 1945. It selectively controls broad-leaf weeds in pasture and cereal crops. The mode of action of MCPA is as an auxin, which are growth hormones that naturally exist in plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural wastewater treatment</span> Farm management for controlling pollution from confined animal operations and surface runoff

Agricultural wastewater treatment is a farm management agenda for controlling pollution from confined animal operations and from surface runoff that may be contaminated by chemicals in fertilizer, pesticides, animal slurry, crop residues or irrigation water.

A Biopesticide is a biological substance or organism that damages, kills, or repels organisms seens as pests. Biological pest management intervention involves predatory, parasitic, or chemical relationships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diquat</span> Chemical compound

Diquat is the ISO common name for an organic dication that, as a salt with counterions such as bromide or chloride is used as a contact herbicide that produces desiccation and defoliation. Diquat is no longer approved for use in the European Union, although its registration in many other countries including the USA is still valid.

Neonicotinoids are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine, developed by scientists at Shell and Bayer in the 1980s.

Intensive crop farming is a modern industrialized form of crop farming. Intensive crop farming's methods include innovation in agricultural machinery, farming methods, genetic engineering technology, techniques for achieving economies of scale in production, the creation of new markets for consumption, patent protection of genetic information, and global trade. These methods are widespread in developed nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyhalothrin</span> Synthetic pyrethroid used as insecticide

Cyhalothrin is an organic compound that, in specific isomeric forms, is used as a pesticide. It is a pyrethroid, a class of synthetic insecticides that mimic the structure and properties of the naturally occurring insecticide pyrethrin which is present in the flowers of Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium. Pyrethroids, such as cyhalothrin, are often preferred as an active ingredient in agricultural insecticides because they are more cost-effective and longer acting than natural pyrethrins. λ-and γ-cyhalothrin are now used to control insects and spider mites in crops including cotton, cereals, potatoes and vegetables.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pesticide application</span> Delivery of pesticides

Pesticide application is the practical way in which pesticides are delivered to their biological targets. Public concern about the use of pesticides has highlighted the need to make this process as efficient as possible, in order to minimise their release into the environment and human exposure. The practice of pest management by the rational application of pesticides is supremely multi-disciplinary, combining many aspects of biology and chemistry with: agronomy, engineering, meteorology, socio-economics and public health, together with newer disciplines such as biotechnology and information science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pirimicarb</span> Chemical compound

Pirimicarb is a selective carbamate insecticide used to control aphids on vegetable, cereal and orchard crops by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase activity but does not affect useful predators such as ladybirds that eat them. It was originally developed by Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd., now Syngenta, at their Jealott's Hill site and first marketed in 1969, four years after its discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clothianidin</span> Chemical compound

Clothianidin is an insecticide developed by Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer AG. Similar to thiamethoxam and imidacloprid, it is a neonicotinoid. Neonicotinoids are a class of insecticides that are chemically similar to nicotine, which has been used as a pesticide since the late 1700s. Clothianidin and other neonicotinoids act on the central nervous system of insects as an agonist of nAChR, the same receptor as acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter that stimulates and activating post-synaptic acetylcholine receptors but not inhibiting AChE. Clothianidin and other neonicotinoids were developed to last longer than nicotine, which is more toxic and which breaks down too quickly in the environment.

The biological activity of a pesticide, be it chemical or biological in nature, is determined by its active ingredient. Pesticide products very rarely consist of the pure active ingredient. The AI is usually formulated with other materials and this is the product as sold, but it may be further diluted in use. Formulations improve the properties of a chemical for handling, storage, application and may substantially influence effectiveness and safety.

Agricultural microbiology is a branch of microbiology dealing with plant-associated microbes and plant and animal diseases. It also deals with the microbiology of soil fertility, such as microbial degradation of organic matter and soil nutrient transformations. The primary goal of agricultural microbiology is to comprehensively explore the interactions between beneficial microorganisms like bacteria and fungi with crops. It also deals with the microbiology of soil fertility, such as microbial degradation of organic matter and soil nutrient transformations.

<i>Tephrosia vogelii</i> Species of legume

Tephrosia vogelii, the Vogel's tephrosia, fish-poison-bean or Vogel tephrosia (English), tefrósia (Portuguese) or barbasco guineano (Spanish), is a flowering plant species in the genus Tephrosia.

The 2008 German beekill incident occurred in July 2008, when German authorities reported that more than 11,000 beehives were affected and millions of bees were killed in an agricultural chemical poisoning incident from late April to early May that year. Affected beekeepers reported that 50 to 100 percent of their hives had been lost after pneumatic equipment used to plant corn seed blew clouds of pesticide dust into the air, which was then pushed by the wind onto neighboring canola fields in which managed bees were performing pollinator services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bupirimate</span> Chemical compound

Bupirimate is an active ingredient of plant protection products, which has an effect as a fungicide. It belongs to the chemical family of pyrimidine sulfamates. Bupirimate has translaminar mobility and systemic translocation in the xylem. It acts mainly by inhibiting sporulation and is used for control of powdery mildew of apples, pears, stone fruit, cucurbits, roses and other ornamentals, strawberries, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, hops, beets and other crops. Bupirimate is not an insecticide. It is of low mammalian toxicity and is non-toxic to bees. However, it is used in many products which also contain insecticides.

This glossary of agriculture is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in agriculture, its sub-disciplines, and related fields, including horticulture, animal husbandry, agribusiness, and agricultural policy. For other glossaries relevant to agricultural science, see Glossary of biology, Glossary of ecology, Glossary of environmental science, and Glossary of botanical terms.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Pedrini, Simone; Merritt, David J.; Stevens, Jason; Dixon, Kingsley (February 2017). "Seed Coating: Science or Marketing Spin?" (PDF). Trends in Plant Science. 22 (2): 106–116. Bibcode:2017TPS....22..106P. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2016.11.002. PMID   27979716.
  2. ↑ Matthews, G.A. (2000). "Chapter 12: Seed treatment, dust and granule application". Pesticide Application Methods . Blackwell Science Ltd. pp.  253–267. ISBN   0632054735.
  3. ↑ Callan, I.W. (1975). "Achievements and limitations of seed treatments". Outl. Agric. 8 (5): 271–274. Bibcode:1975OutAg...8..271C. doi:10.1177/003072707500800504. S2CID   157582780.
  4. 1 2 3 Rocha, Inês; Ma, Ying; Souza-Alonso, Pablo; Vosátka, Miroslav; Freitas, Helena; Oliveira, Rui S. (6 November 2019). "Seed Coating: A Tool for Delivering Beneficial Microbes to Agricultural Crops". Frontiers in Plant Science. 10: 1357. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2019.01357 . PMC   6852281 . PMID   31781135.
  5. ↑ Harris, D.A. (1975). "The application of chemicals to seed". Outl. Agric. 8 (5): 275–280. Bibcode:1975OutAg...8..275H. doi:10.1177/003072707500800505. S2CID   157559918.
  6. ↑ Middleton, M.R.; et al. (1978). "Chapter 3: Seed treatments". In Peacock, F.C. (ed.). Jealott's Hill: Fifty years of Agricultural Research 1928-1978. Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. pp. 29–34. ISBN   0901747017.
  7. ↑ Newman, J.F.; et al. (1978). "Chapter 5: Benzene hexachloride". In Peacock, F.C. (ed.). Jealott's Hill: Fifty years of Agricultural Research 1928-1978. Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. pp. 42–48. ISBN   0901747017.
  8. ↑ http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/late-lessons-2/late-lessons-chapters/late-lessons-ii-chapter-16 [ bare URL PDF ]
  9. ↑ "Home page".
  10. ↑ Electronic Code of Federal Regulations Archived April 1, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.