Vegetable Seed Conservation for the Home Gardens

November 28, 2020 Agrovista

Vegetable Seed Conservation for the Home Gardens

Table of Contents

Home gardens are a valuable source of vegetables; home gardens have also produced flowers, are a great recreational activity, and may even have some therapeutic benefits. In addition to providing vegetables, home gardens may be crucial for supplemental nutrition and extra revenue.

Importance of home gardens

Many local varieties of bitter gourds, gourds, beans, brinjal, and other vegetables have become less common, and some have even vanished entirely. Therefore, reviving home gardens is also crucial to enhancing local biodiversity.

You can save the vegetable seed from your existing crop for the next season of sowing. Saving involves—

The best suitable plant from which seeds have to be saved
Harvesting the seed at the right time
Storing the seed properly

A few points must be considered before planning the vegetable seed production for their consumption. Whether the crop is self-pollinated, Open-pollinated, cross-pollinated, or a hybrid

1) Self-pollinated vegetable plants

Some self-pollinating vegetable examples are tomatoes, green peppers, chili peppers, eggplants, green beans, lima beans, sweet peas, and peanuts. In these crops, pollen is required for a flower to produce fruit. Self-pollinated plants possess the perfect” flowers, which means both the pollen and stigma are present in the same flower.

Self-pollinated seeds require little or no special treatment before storage.

Seeds from biennial crops such as carrots or beets are harder to save since the plants need two growing seasons to set seed.

2) Cross-Pollinated Vegetable Plants ;

Some of the cross-pollinating vegetable examples are cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins, and gourds.

Cross-pollinated plants possess separate male and female flowers and may cross-pollinate through wind or insects.

It is difficult to maintain the seed purity of these crops.

3) Open-pollinated Vegetable Plants ;

Open-pollinated varieties are those that, if properly isolated from other varieties in the same plant species, will produce seeds that are genetically “true to type.” This means that the seed will result in a plant very similar to the parent. Seed from a hybrid variety can be saved but will not be true to type.

4) Hybrid Vegetable Plants;

Hybrid vegetable seeds are products of crosses between two diverse parents (combining traits of the parent plants). Sometimes a combination is particularly good, producing plants with outstanding vigor, disease resistance, and productivity. Hybrid seeds are generally more costly, as their production cost are much higher in comparison to others

Plants grown from a hybrid seed are not identical to the parent’s qualitative and quantitative characteristics.
They will be a completely new combination of the good and bad characteristics of the plants from the initial cross.
It is quite impossible to predict just how the seedling plant will perform or what qualities the fruit will have.

Vegetable seed Conservation

Seeds are the protectors and propagators of their kind. The seed may be defined as “a fertilized ovule consisting of an intact embryo, stored food, and a seed coat that is viable and can germinate.”

Once you have planted an open-pollinated crop, select the plants from which you want to save seed.
Choose only the most vigorous plants with the best-tasting fruit as parents for the next year’s crop. Do not save seed from weak or off-type plants.

Characteristics of a good seed

(i) The seed should be true to type.

(ii) The seed should have good yield potential.

(iii) The seed should possess high vitality.

(IV) The seed should be pure, healthy, and free from inert materials and weed seeds.

(V) The seed should be free from seed-borne diseases and insect pest.

(vi) The seed should have high yielding ability and adaptability. (vii) The seed should be uniform in its texture, structure, and color.

(viii) The seed should be as fresh as possible or of proper age.
Seed Conservation in Vegetable Crops
1. Fruit Vegetable

Brinjal.

The fruits are allowed to ripen on the plants. The fully ripe fruits are harvested and kept for some days in cool places. Then the seeds are! separated from the pulp, and they should be dipped into the water. The healthy seed should then be dried in partial shade before storing.

Tomato.

The recommended varieties from which seeds are to be! Extracted are grown at an isolation distance of 25 to 60 meters, depending upon the type of seed to be produced. Fully ripe fruits are harvested from the selected varieties. The seed, along with the pulp is left in a wooden container to ferment for two to three days before extraction. The seed is then extracted by vigorous stirring and washing. The acid and alkali method is now used to avoid handling the fermented material.
The acid method is more common. 100 ml of commercial hydrochloric acid is thoroughly mixed and stirred for every 11 kg of pulp and left for about 30 minutes. The pulp is then again stirred, and the seed is washed.

Chili.

Chilies are cross-pollinated to some extent. Keep an isolation distance of 200 meters between the two varieties. The fully ripe fruits are harvested and dried in the sun for four to five days. The dried fruits are stored in an airtight container. The fruits are removed from them, broken, and then the seeds are extracted before sowing.

2. Root Crops

Radish.

It is a cross-pollinated crop, and pollination is done by the honeybees. The seed is produced in situ or by the transplanting method. The best roots, true to the type, are selected from the main crop in November and transplanted after cutting away about three-fourths of the lower portion. The top leaves are then trimmed without injuring the crown. These are planted in fertile soil in December at 90 cm row to row and 15-20 cm plant to plant. The field is then irrigated after planting, and subsequent irrigations are given at intervals of 7 to 10 days till the seeds are formed in the fruits. The seeds are ready in April. The crop is harvested before the pods dry completely, and the plants are dried in the open. When they are completely dried, seeds are then separated from them, served, graded, and stored for the next sowing in the next session. Though plants in situ yield less than the transplanted ones, the flowering is earlier in the former case than in the latter.

Turnip.

The seed is sown from August to September for seed production. The fully developed roots are uprooted and retransplanted after removing the tops in autumn at a distance of 60 x 60 cm. The land is irrigated at a regular interval. The plants are harvested when 60 to 70 percent of them turn yellowish-brown in color. The plants are dried in the sun, and the seeds are separated from the plants. The seeds are stored in an airtight container after drying for four to five days
The seed production of carrot and beet is the same as that for radish

3. Bulb Crops

The onion is mainly a cross-pollinated crop. The seed is produced by bulb to seed method and to seed-to-seed method. A medium-sized bulb is selected for planting for seed production. The bulbs are planted by the first fortnight of October at a spacing of 45 x 30 cm. In the case of seed to seed-to-seed method, seeds are sown in August in the nursery bed and the seedlings are transplanted in September in the main field. The seed head, in which seeds are just ready to shatter, are harvested and dried in sun and then threshed by hand, sieved, graded, and stored for the next sowing in the next session

4. Legume Vegetables

Legumes are self-pollinated crop seeds. Once collected from pure varieties, they will breed true to type. For stock seed production, roughing is a compulsory operation. The fully ripe and dried fruits are harvested and dried in the sun for four to five days. Then the seeds are separated from the fruits, dried in the sun, and stored in an airtight container.

5. Cucurbits

The cucurbits are a cross-pollinated crop. The fully ripe fruits are harvested and kept for some days. The seeds are collected from the fruits and dried in the sun. The seeds are stored in an airtight container.

6. Green Vegetables

Green vegetables produce seeds freely. The plants are allowed to grow freely for seed production. The plants are harvested when the fruits are fully ripened and dried in the sun. Then the seeds are collected by threshing the plant by hand. The seeds are stored in an airtight container after drying them in the sun for four to five days.

Explore Further:

Organic Crop Production Certification Process in India

How to Make Jeevamrit: A Natural Remedy for Sustainable Farming