Entomological status of seeds in India: an analysis

In tropic and sub-tropic climatic conditions, infestation by the insect-pes ts is a limiting factor affecting seed quality from production to storage. These arthropod pests not only lower seed recovery but also cause total los s of seed yield and quality, which has a significant impact on the success of seed industry in these regions. As a component of seed health, this aspe ct has not been duly recognized by seed technologists world over. An attemp t has, therefore, been made in this article to analyze the entomological st atus of seeds in India. The data provided by twenty Seed Testing Laboratori es (STL), spread over the diverse agro-climatic conditions, revealed that t he seed samples are not assayed for 'Insect Damage' (ID) in eight (40%) lab oratories, as per rules of Indian Minimum Seed Certification Standards. Dur ing five years (1989-90 to 1993-94), a total of 136928 seed samples (field and revalidated) of 60 crops were analyzed, out of which 4691 (3.43%) sampl es were rejected on ID basis. Minimum (0.5%) rejection was reported from We st Bengal as against maximum (19.3%) from Orissa. An increasing trend in th e number of ID samples from 1989-90 (6.36%) to 1993-94 (12.16%) was observe d. The extent of rejection was maximum in food legumes followed by wheat, m aize and sorghum samples analyzed at Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ut tar Pradesh. Data provided by STL, over the period, revealed that the rejec tion of revalidated samples due to ID was high in oats (23.5%), sorghum (12 .5%), fodder (11.6%), barley (11.3%), maize (10.7%), legumes (7.1%) and whe at (5.6%). Similar rejections on the basis of field samples has also been d iscussed. Data representing diverse ecological regions clearly demonstrate the importance of insect pests in seed industry which must be recognized as a component of seed health in the tropics and sub-tropics.