Abstract

The importance of "good seed" is well realised in Agriculture. Good seeds are those in which every seed is capable of giving rise to a healthy plant of the kind, when placed under suitable conditions of growth. The quality of good seed is dependent upon a number of factors, such as the maturity of the seeds, purity, the methods of storage adopted, the period of storage after harvest, the age of the seed and the incidence of pests and diseases during storage. For the determination of the quality of the seed and arriving at its real value two important factors namely (i) Purity and (ii) Viability are considered. The data on germination and dormancy both published and unpublished supplied by the various Crop Specialists of the Madras Agricultural Department are summarised in this article.

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