Seed Quality in Forage Crops: Current Status and Gaps in Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper summarizes forage seed quality attributes, stages to be considered for quality seed production, current status, and gaps of forage seed quality in Ethiopia. Seed quality is one of the main factors affecting crop production potential. Seed quality such as genetic quality, physiological quality, physical quality, and pathological quality should be considered during seed production. The pre-planting stage is the first stage to be considered for the production of good quality seed. The environmental conditions under which the forage crop is grown and the cultural practices used for production can affect seed quality. Several environmental factors such as soil conditions, nutrient deficiency, water stresses, extreme temperatures, and pest infestation may affect seed quality by reducing its viability and vigor by the time the seed reaches physiological maturity. Besides, identification of suitable sites, use of proper seedbed preparation, sowing time, seed rates, and planting methods are also considered to affect quality forage seed production. The post-planting stage such as weeding, pest and disease control, time of harvest, and field inspections at different stages is the second stage to be considered for quality seed production. Determination of seed harvesting stage of some forage species is more complex compared to food crops due to unsynchronized seed maturity and seed shattering problems so that identification of optimum seed harvesting stage for species which have indeterminate growth habit is very important. The post-harvesting stage such as drying, threshing, cleaning, packing, storing, transporting, and marketing is the third most important stage to be considered for quality seed production. Forage plants are cultivated mostly for herbage utilization so that seed production does not virtually exist in the country. The price of small-seeded perennial forage species and their cost of production are very high globally due to low seed yield performance, unsynchronized seed maturity, seed shattering problem, and difficulty in postharvesting and handling processes compared to most annual forage species. Some of the beneficial qualities of forage seeds can be stored for a longer time, relatively free of disease, and not attacked by pests like weevils compared to food crops. Some forage seeds have a problem of seed dormancy but the problem can be solved by mechanical, chemical, and hot water scarification. Generation of different forage seed production technologies which are feasible for different agroecologies are extremely important for higher and quality seed production but the technologies are not yet well known for most forage species.