Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T21:17:35.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Low-cost seed storage technologies for development impact of small-scale seed saving entities in tropical climates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2022

Patrick Trail Open the ORCID record for Patrick Trail [Opens in a new window] ,
Timothy Motis Open the ORCID record for Timothy Motis [Opens in a new window] ,
Stacy Swartz  and
Abram Bicksler Open the ORCID record for Abram Bicksler [Opens in a new window]
Patrick Trail
Affiliation:
ECHO Asia Impact Center, 270/5 Tung Hotel Road, Soi 6, Watgate, Chiang Mai, Thailand 50000, USA
Timothy Motis*
Affiliation:
ECHO Inc., 17391 Durrance Road, North Fort Myers, Florida33917, USA
Stacy Swartz
Affiliation:
ECHO Inc., 17391 Durrance Road, North Fort Myers, Florida33917, USA
Abram Bicksler
Affiliation:
ECHO Asia Impact Center, 270/5 Tung Hotel Road, Soi 6, Watgate, Chiang Mai, Thailand 50000, USA Current affiliation: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Vialle delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, 00153, Italy
*
*Corresponding author. Email: tmotis@echonet.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Seeds can deteriorate rapidly under high heat and humidity, making it challenging and potentially costly to store orthodox seeds effectively in the tropics, thereby affecting agriculture development. This work explores the effectiveness of novel, low-cost technologies for storing seeds in warm, humid, resource-constrained environments, focusing on maintaining the viability of seeds already dry prior to storage. Seeds of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench), and velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC) were kept for 12 months under roofed, outdoor screened porches. Seed moisture content prior to treatment was 6, 9, and 12% for okra, sorghum, and velvet bean, respectively. Treatments, replicated four times at each of two locations (USA [Florida] and Thailand), were technology suites involving vacuum drawn on glass jars with a modified bicycle pump, vacuum drawn on polyethylene bags with an electric vacuum sealing machine, desiccant (calcium oxide powder or zeolite Drying Beads® at a 2:1 ratio, by weight, of seeds to desiccant) in glass jars, and nontreated seeds in paper bags. Ambient temperature and humidity were variable and high, reaching over 35 °C and 83%, respectively, at both locations. Under these conditions, okra and sorghum germination percentages (across locations) without treatment declined from over 90% initially to 30 and 0%, respectively, by month 12. Both vacuum treatments and calcium oxide maintained high germination of okra (≈ 80%) and velvet bean seeds (nearly 100%) across locations. Glass, however, was superior to polyethylene in maintaining vacuum and stabilizing the moisture content of okra and sorghum seeds. Only zeolite reduced seed moisture below initial values, drying seeds to ultradry levels of <5%. With zeolite, sorghum germination stayed near 70% over time, while okra and velvet bean germination fell to <40 and <20%, respectively, by month 12, suggesting that, with the beads kept with dry seeds in storage rather than removing the beads after reaching a target level of seed moisture, the 2:1 ratio of seed-to-bead weight was too high for seeds that are sensitive to ultralow moisture. Findings have practical implications for inexpensive household- or community-level seed storage to deliver development impact.

Keywords

Seed SavingSeed BankingVacuum SealingDesiccantsZeolite Drying Beads®Community Seed BanksCalcium Oxide
Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 57 , Issue 5-6 , December 2021 , pp. 324 - 337
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashok Shakuntal, N.M. and Gowda, B. (2017). Ultra-dry seed storage: a novel technology for enhancing seed longevity. International Journal of Chemical Studies 5, 1841–1857.Google Scholar
Bass, L.N. and Stanwood, P.C. (1978). Long-term preservation of sorghum seed as affected by seed moisture, temperature, and atmospheric environment. Crop Science 18, 575–577. doi: 10.2135/cropsci1978.0g011183x001800040012x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bicksler, A.J. (2015). Bicycle pump vacuum sealer for seed storage. ECHO Development Notes 126, 1–2.Google Scholar
Coomes, O.T., McGuire, S.J., Garine, E., Caillon, S., McKey, D., Demeulenaere, E., Jarvis, D., Aistara, G., Barnaud, A., Clouvel, P., Emperaire, L., Loufi, S., Martin, P., Massol, F., Pautasso, M., Violon, C. and Wencelius, J. (2015). Farmer seed networks make a limited contribution to agriculture? Four common misconceptions. Food Policy 56, 41–50. doi: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.07.008 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croft, M., Bicksler, A., Manson, J. and Burnette, R. (2012). Comparison of appropriate tropical seed storage techniques for germplasm conservation in mountainous sub-tropical climates with resource constraints. Experimental Agriculture 49, 279–294. doi: 10.1017/S0014479712001251 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delouche, J.C., Matthes, R.K., Dougherty, G.M. and Boyd, A.H. (1973). Storage of seed in sub-tropical and tropical regions. Seed Science and Technology 1, 671–700.Google Scholar
Ellis, R.H. (1991). The longevity of seeds. HortScience 26, 1119–1125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R.H. and Hong, T.D. (2007). Seed longevity – moisture content relationships in hermetic and open storage. Seed Science and Technology 35, 423–431. doi: 10.15258/sst.2007.35.2.17 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R.H., Nasehzadeh, M., Hanson, J. and Woldemariam, Y. (2018). Medium-term seed storage of 50 genera of forage legumes and evidence-based genebank monitoring intervals. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 65, 607–623. doi: 10.1007/s10722-017-0558-5 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feed the Future Innovation Lab (FFIL). (2017). Drying Beads Save High Quality Seeds. Available at https://horticulture.ucdavis.edu/information/drying-beads-save-high-quality-seeds (accessed 24 July 2020)Google Scholar
Gomez-Campo, C. (2006). Erosion of genetic resources within seed genebanks: the role of seed containers. Seed Science Research 16, 291–294. doi: 10.1017/SSR2006260 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groot, S.P.C., de Groot, L., Kodde, J. and van Treuren, R. (2015). Prolonging the longevity of ex situ conserved seeds under anoxia. Plant Genetic Resources 13, 1826. doi: 10.1017/S1479262114000586 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guanghua, Z. (1994). Ultradry seed storage: improved strategy and technology for germplasm conservation. Biodiversity Science 2, 61–65. doi: 10.17520/biods.1994048 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guzzon, F., Bello, P., Bradford, K.J., Mérida Guzman, M. de los A. and Costich, D.E. (2020). Enhancing seed conservation in rural communities of Guatemala by implementing the dry chain concept. Biodiversity and Conservation 29, 3997–4017. doi: 10.1007/s10531-020-02059-6 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, J.F. (1972). Seed storage and longevity. In Kozlowski, T.T. (ed), Seed Biology. New York, NY: Academic Press, pp. 145–245. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-12-395605-7.50009-0 Google Scholar
Hay, F.R., Thavong, P., Taridno, P. and Timple, S. (2012). Evaluation of zeolite seed ‘Drying Beads®’ for drying rice seeds to low moisture content prior to long-term storage. Seed Science and Technology 40, 374–395. doi: 10.15258/sst.2012.40.3.09 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, F.R. and Timple, S. (2013). Optimum ratios of zeolite seed Drying Beads® to dry rice seeds for genebank storage. Seed Science and Technology 41, 407–419. doi: 10.15258/sst.2013.41.3.08 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, B., Bicksler, A.J. and Duncan, K. (2017). Local treatments and vacuum sealing as novel control strategies for stored seed pests in the tropics. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 37, 6. doi: 10.1007/s13593-017-0415-0 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Louwaars, N.P., deBoef, W.S. and Edeme, J. (2013). Integrated seed sector development in Africa: a basis for seed policy and law. Journal of Crop Improvement 27, 186–214. doi: 10.1080/15427528.2012.751472 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Motis, T. (2019). Vacuum Sealing Options for Storing Seeds. ECHO Technical Note no. Available at http://edn.link/tn93 (accessed 22 October 2020)Google Scholar
Mullan, M. and McDowell, D. (2011). Modified atmosphere packaging. In Coles, R. and Kirwan, M. (eds), Food and Beverage Packaging Technology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 263–294. doi: 10.1002/9781444392180.ch10 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nassari, P.J., Keshavulu, K., Rao, M., Chandra Shekar Reddy, K. and Raheem, A. (2014). Post harvest drying of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) seeds to ultra low moisture safe for storage using desiccant (zeolite) beads and their effects on seed quality. American Journal of Research Communication 2, 74–83.Google Scholar
Nethra, N., Rani, K.U., Gowda, R., Prasad, S.R. and Narayanaswamy, S. (2016). Effect of packaging and desiccants on storability of soybean seeds. Seed Science and Technology 44, 207–211 doi: 10.15258/sst.2016.44.1.05 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyarko, G., Bayor, H., Craigon, J. and Suleimana, I.A. (2006). The effect of container types, seed dressings and desiccants on the viability and vigour of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L. var. sabdariffa) seeds. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 9, 593–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powers, T.H and Calvo, W.J. (2003). Moisture regulation. In Ahvenainen, R. (ed), Woodhead Publishing Series in Novel Food Packaging Techniques. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing, pp. 172–185. doi: 10.1533/9781855737020.1.172 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Probert, R.J., Daws, M.I. and Hay, F.R. (2009). Ecological correlates of ex situ seed longevity: a comparative study on 195 species. Annals of Botany 104, 57–69. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcp082 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rao, N.K., Hanson, J., Dulloo, M.E., Ghosh, K., Nowell, D. and Larinde, M. (2006). Manual of seed handling in genebanks. In Handbooks for Genebanks No. 8. Rome: Bioversity International, pp. 28–29.Google Scholar
Vernooy, R., Sthapit, B., Otieno, G., Shrestha, P. and Gupta, A. (2017). The roles of seed banks in climate change adaption. Development in Practice 27, 316–327. doi: 10.1080/09614524.2017.1294653 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vertucci, C.W. and Roos, E.E. (1990). Theoretical basis of protocols for seed storage. Plant Physiology 94, 1019–1023. doi: 10.1104/2Fpp.94.3.1019 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walters, C. (2007). Materials used for seed storage containers: response to Gómez-Campo [Seed Science Research 16, 291–294 (2006)]. Seed Science Research 17, 233–242. doi: 10.1017/S0960258507832673 CrossRefGoogle Scholar