During storage, seed quality inevitably deteriorates as result of aging processes. The aging of seed is largely caused by seed oxidation. The longer seed is stored, the lower the germination. The cumulative damage is caused by seed oxydation damaging the seed embryo. For seed companies it is of strategic importance to measure the oxydation rate and herewith know how seed degrades during storage. Combined with other parameters the measurements give new insights to optimize storage, growth and harvesting strategies. Seed oxidation can be measured with non-invasive oxygen measurement technology developed by Sendot.

Non-invasive oxygen measurement

The rate at which the oxygen decreases determines the measurement period. E.g. Low oxygen consuming seeds should be measured and monitored one or two weeks before a reliable rate figure can be determined. Fast consuming seeds like recalcitrants take a few hours to detect reliable numbers.

Case: rapeseed

The graph below shows the oxygen consumption of rapeseed over a period of 14 days at room tem-perature. In this period the oxygen in thetube/jar decreases with 1%. This corresponds to an oxygen consumption of 40ug/g dry seed. When storage temperature is raised to 40 C, the outcome increases to 160ug/g