Germinating seeds, like boozy pub patrons, emit ethyl alcohol. And just like overimbibers, the more fumes they give off, the less dependable they are.
Now, a seed quality test kit that measures ethyl alcohol emissions is ready after nearly a decade of experimentation, said Wayne Buckley, a research scientist at Agriculture Canada’s Brandon Research Centre.
As seed deteriorates, it emits ethyl alcohol.
“Most canola seed is good quality, but as many of you are aware, occasionally we get a seed lot or seeds that have been stored inappropriately and have lost their vigour.”
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Telltale signs include poor emergence and slow growth among those seeds that do come up, he said.
At the Manitoba Zero-Till Research Association’s field day, he showed how the new Vigorcheck single-use kit developed by the federal scientists could be used as a screening test for canola seed, including open-pollinated, hybrids, genetically modified and synthetics, both bare and treated.
The kit also works for malting barley, particularly the unstable two-row varieties, and allows farmers to test which seed lots should be shipped off earliest in the season to capture malting premiums.
“Some barley lots, especially those exposed to high humidity or a little bit of rain, even without showing sprouting, may lose their germination percentage early in storage,” he said.
“You may have 90 percent germination when you test it yourself early in the fall, but six months later when you want to sell it for malting, it may have lost its germination percentage.”
To do the test, a packet is torn open, revealing a small bottle with chemicals dried on the inside surface, a syringe filled with the correct amount of water needed for testing and a test tube.
The test tube is filled with a sample of seed that is then dumped into the bottle followed by 0.5 ml of water from the syringe. The bottle is then shaken vigorously to dissolve the chemicals on the inside of the bottle and set aside for 24 hours at room temperature.
“If you have seed that has deteriorated quite a bit, the cap will change from yellow to blue,” said Buckley, adding that the ethyl alcohol emitted causes the change.
Studies using the kit found that 92 percent of the seed on the market passed the test, leaving the cap yellow, which indicates good quality seed.
The kit was designed to prevent false positive tests, so farmers can be confident of the quality of seed that passes the test.
Of eight percent of seed that turned the cap blue, further testing showed that 78 percent of that seed had less than 90 percent germination.
“So that’s not No. 1 seed,” said Buckley. “That’s one thing to be concerned about.”
A quarter of the failed seed belonged to the “very high risk” category for establishment in the field, with the poor results directly observable.
Buckley also showed how a standard police breathalyzer unit could be used as a testing method for seed quality.
Using the same bottle, chemical, seed and water, the device tipped with a needle instead of a mouthpiece is inserted into the bottle through the cap and a reading taken.
A quantitative test such as the breathalyzer reading gives a seed grower or lab a better idea of sample quality, while the single use kit simply gives a yes or no answer.
The seed test kit is not yet commercially available, however, the department is looking for industry partners.
