Mechanical Purity and All-States Noxious Weed Examinations

Mechanical Purity and All-States Noxious Weed Examinations are conducted in accordance with the Association of Official Seed Analysts (AOSA) "Rules for Testing Seeds". ISTA tests are also available.   The All-States Noxious Weed Examinations include all states except Hawaii. Submit a 500 gram sample of seed.

Standard Germination Tests are conducted in accordance with the Association of Official Seed Analysts (AOSA) "Rules for Testing Seeds"; ISTA tests are also available. Submit a 250 gram sample for these tests.

CLEARFIELD CONFIRM^SM Herbicide Bioassays

SGS offers CLEARFIELD CONFIRMSM  herbicide bioassays for wheat and rice. SGS passed the 2005 BASF CLEARFIELD validation test on both crops. This is the second year that MWSS has been awarded the use of the CLEARFIELD CONFIRMSM  Test Seal for wheat and the first year the seal has been offered for CLEARFIELD rice. What does this mean for a client? They now have the security of knowing that when a CLEARFIELD wheat or rice sample is tested at SGS, that the sample has been evaluated by a trained and approved laboratory utilizing test methods that have been validated by BASF. The germination percentage, as well as the CLEARFIELD trait percentage is reported to the client. SGS also offers CLEARFIELD herbicide bioassays on corn, sunflowers and canola. We were recently awarded use of CLEARFIELD CONFIRMSM for sunflowers and await this validation on canola.

Sand Emergence Testing

Sand Emergence Testing  is one of the best estimates of field emergence when wheat seed lots have fungal infection such as Fusarium spp. The sand provides uniform water uptake, facilitates root growth on damaged seedlings, and tends to suppress fungal growth related to seed coat infections. Duration is seven days.

Cold Tests

Cold Tests are useful for evaluating sorghum seed vigor levels. The test is conducted for seven days at 10C followed by a four day germination test at 20-30C. Submit at least 250 grams of seed.

Accelerated Aging has been useful as a vigor test for wheat. The seed is aged at 41C for 72 hours prior to planting under normal germination test conditions. Submit at least 250 grams.

Tetrazolium Test

Tetrazolium Test is a quick viability test completed within 24 to 48 hours. Two hundred seeds are prepared and stained with tetrazolium solution and evaluated for viability.

Automatic Retesting

SGS offers customers an automatic retesting option when ‘apparent’ seed quality issues occur. This retest will provide additional information on the seed lot to facilitate seed quality decisions.  Currently, this service is offered on corn, soybeans, sorghum and cotton. 

You, the customer, choose the thresholds that would trigger the auto-retest and SGS sets these thresholds up for your account in our computer system.  For example: if you want samples to be auto-retested when the warm germination falls between 79% and 94%, the thresholds for a warm germ test would be set at 80<=Germ<=93.  Samples falling into this range receive an automatic retest.  Retest threshold ranges can be applied to most germination-based tests offered by MWSS and can be easily adjusted if your needs change. If assistance is desired on determining appropriate retest thresholds, please give us a call at 877-692-7611 and we can assist you.

There is no charge for setting up auto-retest thresholds and once auto-retesting is in place; your samples will be retested within 24 hours thus saving valuable time in your decision-making process. Retests are billed to your account at the same rate as the regular tests.

If this service interests you, please contact the account specialist you normally correspond with via email or phone:

Deb Rud - 605-696-5653 or (debra.rud@sgs.com) - Multi-species Accounts

Multi-Species Germination Remarks

Warm Germination Test

When germination tests are evaluated, we describe the abnormalities and fungal species present to help explain the cuase of a seed quality problem.  Below are listed the most commonly observed problems and possible cause of these respective problems.  Tests below 90% may have the following remarks.                  

Seedling Abnormalities
*Physical/Mechanical Abnormalities: Observed Symptom	Possible Cause
Shredded Leaves (SL)	Impact to shoot and coleoptile
Short; damaged hypocotyls (SDH)	Impacts to hypocotyl/radicle
Insufficient Roots (IR)	Impacts to radicle
Stunted Shoots (SS)	Damage within or below growing point
No Shoots (NS)	Damage within or below growing point
Detached Mesocotyl (DM)	Handling or Frost Damage
*Physiological Abnormalities: Observed Symptom	Possible Cause
Watery Hypocotyl [Clear Hypocotyls] (WH)	Physiological weakness
Partial Coleoptile (PC)	Aged Seed
*Pathological Abnormalities: Observed Symptom	Possible Cause
Decayed seedling (DS) [root and hypocotyls]	Fungal infection
Decayed Cotyledons (DC)	Primary infection by a Fungus
Bacteria (BAC)	Bacteria noted on 5% or more of the dead seed
Fungi Observed
Rhizopus spp. (RH)	Sugar leakage from seed
Fusarium spp. (FU)	Field Fungus – seed/seedling decay
Aspergillus flavus (AF)	Storage fungus – high seed moisture
Aspergillus niger (AN)	Storage fungus – high seed moisture
Penicillium spp. (PE)	Storage fungus – high seed moisture
Alternaria spp. (AL)	Field weathering promotes occurence