A32-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 15,2001
Seed Vigor Test Refined To
Measure Additional Plant Varieties
COLUMBUS, Ohio An au
tomated image scanning system
developed to assess overall seed
vigor of lettuce has been refined
to measure half of all seedling
plant varieties that exist and is
nearly 80 percent accurate.
The system, developed by Ohio
State University crop production
and computer science research
ers, is more rapid and accurate
than manual tests and improves
upon existing commercial auto
mated systems. Initially designed
to measure seed vigor of lettuce
plants because of their simple
root structure, the system can
now assess seed vigor of soybeans
and cotton and has the capabili
ties of measuring seedlings of
plant varieties from crops to
grasses to ornamentals.
“This is just an invaluable
piece of technology,” said Miller
McDonald, an OSU seed scien
tist. “Farmers want good seed in
their fields. If it’s not good seed,
the plant won’t grow. This sys
tem tells you how fast a seed
grows and how uniformly it
grows, and that’s the bottom
line.”
Seed companies conduct rigor
ous stress tests on seed varieties,
including cold tests and acceler
ated aging tests, to determine
which varieties have the highest
percentage of germination, hence
providing farmers and green
house growers the best opportu
nities for a larger yield. In the
past, these tests were conducted
by hand, a time-consuming, labo
rious and often faulty process.
McDonald and other researchers
were interested in developing a
system that improved upon the
manual tests.
The image scanning system
combines an inverted flatbed
scanner that records digital
images of germinating seeds with
a computer that then- processes
the data and gives a quantitative
measurement of overall seed
vigor. The process eliminates the
need to conduct stress tests by
hand. The system can calculate
overall seed vigor within three to
four days of germination as op
posed to seven to 14 days if tested
by hand.
The researchers believe the sys-
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tem is also an improvement upon
existing commercial tests, which
only examine certain seedling
parts, such as root length or the
cotyledon (the part of the seed
that produces the plant’s first
leaves). The new system has die
capabilities of measuring all seed
ling parts, providing more accu
rate and reproducible seed vigor
data. It measures growth of the
seed; the roots; and the hypoco
tyl, or the plant stem located just
below the cotyledon. A numeral
index of zero to 1,000 (zero indi
cating poor germination and
1,000 indicating ideal germina
tion) is given to each plant part,
and then a final number is given
for the seed variety that identifies
its overall vigor.
“We wanted to develop tech
nology that will benefit the seed
industry. With this system, seed
companies can provide their cus
tomers with more accurate ger
mination information, and hence,
the highest-quality seed lot,” said
McDonald.
The refinements to the image
canning system have enabled re
searchers to classify the seedling
being measured based on its root
and hypocotyl structure. For ex
ample, lettuce seedlings are class
ified as type “I” because the roots
generally grow in a straight line.
OSU horticulturist Mark Ben
nett said that the researchers be
lieve most plant seedlings fall
under the T category. “We feel
that 40-50 percent of plant spe
cies fall under the ‘l’ type classifi
cation. With the right software,
we envision this system to even
tually be ablc .to measure nearly
all seedling types,” he said.
The seedling classification will
make it easier for seed companies
to evaluate overall seed vigor,
since some seedling root and hy
pocotyl structures, like corn and
soybeans, are not so clear cut as
lettuce. “It was pretty challeng
ing for us to try to measure soy
bean seedlings,” said McDonald.
“Unlike lettuce, there is no clear
demarcation line in soybeans that
separates the root and hypocotyl
from the cotyledon.”
McDonald added that when
measuring overall seed vigor, it’s
important to focus completely on
the growing root and hypocotyl
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and eliminate the cotyledon,
since it provides no information
regarding seed vigor. “If we leave
any part of the cotyledon in the
measurement, you’ll get an erro
neous result,” he said. “It’s im
portant to be able to distinguish
where the root and hypocotyl end
and the cotyledon begins.”
The researchers believe that
the image scanning system is an
advantageous piece of technology
for both farmers and seed compa
nies.
“Farmers want their seed to
come up as soon as possible. The
soil is a hostile environment. The
quicker the seed comes up, the
better chance the plant has to
survive,” said McDonald. “Also,
farmers want uniform growth, es
pecially when they need to spray
their fields.”
Said Bennett, “It’s the same
for the greenhouse plug industry.
Companies want all of their plug
cells to sprout plants. Any plant
that doesn’t come up is lost reve
nue for them.”
Seed companies can also bene
fit from the image system in that
it can assist them in moving in
ventory ridding seed that has
gone bad, selling a better product
by being able to identify which
seeds grow the quickest or which
ones can withstand stress, and
modifying orders to fit specific
customer requirements.
“Its uses are endless,” said
McDonald. “And the best thing
about the system is that it estab
lishes a uniform standard of seed
quality.”
The researchers are still fine
tuning file image system. They
are currently working on devel
oping software that will measure
com and grasses, and are work
ing with various seed companies
to test the unit in the field. They
expect to have the system patent
ed by early next year.
Anthrax In Animals
W. DEE WHITTIER
Extension Veterinarian, Cattle
Va.-Md. Regional CoHege
Of Veterinary Medicine
Anthrax has historically been
an important disease in cattle
and sheep in the U.S. Effective
control methods have decreased
significantly the number of cases
of anthrax in domestic animals so
that it has become a rare disease
in most areas of the US.
South Dakota, Arkansas, Loui
siana, Texas, and California have
the highest incidence of the dis
ease in livestock.
Cattle and sheep are the most
susceptible to anthrax. Horses
and goats also get fire disease but
are more resistant and dogs and
cats are apparently quite resis
tant.
A 1955 survey of anthrax
losses in livestock in 1955 showed
nearly 20,000 US cases in the
prior 10 years. However, by the
19605, 100 cases or less a year
were reported. The reasons for
the decrease are believed to in
clude better quarantine and hy
giene and, when outbreaks do
occur, use of antibiotics and vac
cination.
Anthrax has sometimes been
called “wool-sorters disease.”
This because there have been his
torical outbreaks of the disease in
people working in woolen mills in
the U.S. These were generally as
sociated with imported wool*.
Experts now believe that these in
fected wools may have been har
vested from animals that had
died of anthrax and hence were
highly contaminated with the or
ganisms.
Outbreaks of anthrax in live
stock are thought to usually be
associated with spores that came
from other onhnols dying of the
disease. Bec&use these sports do
not form until some time after
the animal dies, the disease is not
contagious. These spores, tiny en
capsulated forms of the organ
ism, may survive in the environ
ment for many years (37 years in
one case). Flooding of areas
where carcasses from anthrax in
fected animals decomposed car
ries spores to low-lying pastures
where many severe outbreaks of
the disease have occurred.
The anthrax organisms can
enter the body through a cut in
the skin, by being inhaled, or by
being eaten or drunk. In studies,
much smaller doses of the an
thrax will cause infection if the
organism is airborne and then in
haled. In actuality, however, the
most common route of infection
for livestock occurs by ingesting
the spores when they contami
nate feeds.
Thus it is easier for livestock to
get the disease by inhaling it
rather than consuming it, but
since having airborne spores is
rare most livestock actually get
the disease by eating the spores.
Sudden death is the most com
mon observation when livestock
become infected with anthrax.
Following an incubation of 1-14
days (usually 3-7 days) animals
develop high fevers and become
very ill. Most die with hours of
developing the disease. Bloody
discharges from the mouth, nose,
anus and other body openings are
common. Bodies of animals
dyipgfrom anthrax contain huge
numbers of the anthrax organism
at death.
Veterinary personnel should
examine any animal' dying sud
denly. Preventing predation of
the carcasses wiß linrulthc num
ber of spores that enter tfae envi
ronmcnt. Tf anthrax is suspected
samples are typically examined
before an entire autopsy is per
formed since this will also limit
the number of spores that are
formed to contaminate die area.
' Tn suramhry, anthrax is a dis
ease that has become relatively
rare in U.S. livestock. Its major
manifestation is sudden death.
Any case of sudden death in do
mestic animals should be investi
gated.
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