Corvallis, Oregon
August 24, 2007
Millions of bags of Oregon grass
seed will be shipped around the world this year, and many of
them will be bearing a blue tag issued by the
Oregon State
University (OSU) Seed Certification Service.
The blue tag assures buyers of the authenticity and quality of
the seeds, verified by tests conducted by the
OSU Seed Laboratory.
"This is a crucial time of the year for grass seed cleaners,
growers and shippers," said Adriel Garay, the seed lab manager.
"They need their seed tested and tagged in time for the fall
planting season."
In response, the OSU Seed Lab is hard at work testing and
reporting on this year's crop of grass seed.
The Seed Lab, part of the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences,
tests up to 14,000 samples each year for seed purity and
germination rates, according to Garay. About 60 percent of those
samples are grass seed processed from mid-July through
September.
To assure quality and meet the demands of a global market, the
seed lab must evaluate samples as quickly as possible.
Germination testing poses challenges as the seeds are still
overcoming their natural dormancy. And testing of physical
purity poses additional challenges because grass seeds are small
and some impurities resemble the crop seed.
To be certified, a seed sample must be from 95 to 98 percent
free of impurities such as weed seeds, stems or debris,
depending on the kind of seed tested. Germination rate
requirements range from 75 to 90 percent, also depending on the
crop kind, according to Garay.
Those are minimum requirements, Garay said, but most samples
exceed the minimum.
"Oregon grass seed typically germinates at rates of up to 95
percent, which is excellent for any seed,” Garay pointed out.
“That is why it is recognized as the best grass seed in the
world."
Oregon is the world's No. 1 grass seed producer, supplying
nearly 60 percent of all commercial grass seed, according to
William Young, an OSU Extension agronomist.
And the industry is increasing. Last year growers produced 789
million pounds of Oregon grass seed worth $454 million,
according to Young. That was up from 720 million pounds valued
at $348 million in 2005.
Oregon growers produce grass seed for lawns and for forage.
Exported throughout the world, Oregon grass seed is in high
demand for golf courses on the East Coast and for pastures in
Texas and the Gulf Coast states, Young said.
The OSU Seed Lab tests more than 200 different kinds seed
products – representing about 14,000 samples – in more than
30,000 different tests in a year.
"We test everything from field crops like wheat, barely and
oats, to trees and vegetable seeds," Garay said. "In the past
few years we've seen an increase in requests to test native
grasses and shrubs. This is a reflection of our state's broad
agricultural and climatic diversity."
Established in 1909, the OSU Seed Laboratory is one of the
oldest and largest in the United States. It is self-funding,
supporting itself through constant innovations and fees it
charges for its testing services. For more information, see:
http://www.seedlab.oscs.orst.edu/
The OSU College of Agricultural Sciencescontributes in many
ways to the economic and environmental sustainability of Oregon
and the Pacific Northwest. The college's faculty are leaders in
agriculture and food systems, natural resources management, life
sciences and rural economic development research. |
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