Laramie, Wyoming
August 23, 2006
No tremors shake the fingertips of
Denny Hall as he manipulates slender silver tools while
examining grass seed in a dish under a magnifying scope.
The lights are off and it's quiet in the lab room at the Denny
J. Smith Memorial Seed Analysis Laboratory at the
University of Wyoming Powell
Research and Extension Center. As if performing an autopsy, Hall
gently peels away the seed's outer layers to reveal innards that
are red. A registered seed technician in the lab, Hall is
testing for seed viability using a tetrazolium test.
Red is good.
"Tetrazolium is a quick viability test," explained Gil Waibel,
seed lab director. "Living tissue respires and reacts with the
tetrazolium compound. As the tissue respires, the tetrazolium
solution reacts with living, breathing tissue and stains it red.
It tells us whether the seed will produce a plant or not."
There have been a lot of tests lately at the seed lab.
In the last three years since being moved from near Cheyenne to
Powell, tests at the lab increased from 1,590 to 4,428. Revenues
from tests have burgeoned from $29,000 to $90,000 last year.
Revenues are put into the state's general fund.
The lab is funded by the
Wyoming Department of Agriculture and is operated and
administered by the University of Wyoming. Moving the lab across
the state to Powell put it in the heart of the Wyoming seed
industry.
"With 90 percent of the seed production in this corner of the
state, it didn't make sense to have it where 10 percent of the
production was happening," Waibel said.
The lab is named after the late Denny J. Smith, a former state
representative and seed producer from Powell. Smith and his
replacement, Alan Jones, also of Powell, are credited with
securing state funds for the facility.
Waibel expects lab activity to increase, and an 18-foot addition
to the building could be completed this year. The addition will
provide an area for seed storage, planting and evaluation
stations and a walk-in germinator designed for beans and wheat
-- a nursery of sorts.
"The seed industry in the state is growing," said Waibel. "The
lab is part of the infrastructure enabling our industry to
grow."
The extra space will help the lab keep up with testing and
increase efficiency, said Waibel. "It's very important to the
bean industry to get the results quickly. Growers don't get paid
until the bean seed companies get the test results."
Every lab has the same rules to test by; the Wyoming lab tries
to differentiate itself from other labs by its service. The seed
companies know their samples aren't sitting on shelves, Waibel
said, and, if there is a problem with a seed sample, the lab
will let the client know before they receive the test results.
"It shows we care about our customers and their seed quality,"
said Waibel.
The lab also provides support for research and is providing seed
testing for a study looking at how soil fertility affects seed
production and quality. Growers want to know how to produce a
high quality product and more of it, he said.
The lab provides both service and regulatory testing. It
determines seed purity - how much pure seed, other crop seed,
weed seed and inert matter - is in a sample for labeling
information. Noxious weeds are identified and germination rates
determined.
Under its regulatory mandate, samples obtained by the Wyoming
Department of Agriculture from stores and seed companies are
tested in the seed lab. The sample results are then compared
against label information.
If there is a problem, the Wyoming Department of Agriculture
issues a notice of alleged violation and pulls the product from
the vendor's shelves.
Source:
University of Wyoming |
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