Seed Science and Technology

Seeds are not only the world’s major source of human and animal nutrition but also provide the basis for improving agricultural practices and managing genetic resources. High-quality seeds are required for successful crop production, propagation and breeding. Seed quality comprises a multitude of processes and events that occur during the successive stages of seed development, of which dormancy, germination, longevity and desiccation tolerance are the most important. These seed traits represent key ecological and agronomical traits that determine plant establishment in both natural and agricultural ecosystems:

• seeds are both the start and end of the plant life cycle. they are ‘time capsules’ containing the full genetic information for the survival of a species. they are the only mobile phase and therefore determine when and where the plant exists;
• seed behaviour (dormancy and germination timing) are major determinants of plant fitness in natural populations;
• seeds are ‘extremophytes’ that can tolerate desiccation to 2% moisture content, enabling long-term storage for genetic conservation and the establishment of an agricultural seed industry;
• seeds are the major currency of the biotechnology revolution;
• seed quality for plant establishment is the cornerstone of agricultural production and the seed is often the key yield component;
• the seeds of just three crops, rice, maize and wheat, constitute 2/3 of the world’s food.
  The course will focus on seeds as starting materials, therefore nutrition related aspects are not part of this course. The course topics are based on transitions during the seed life cycle, which include the switch from embryogenesis to seed maturation, from seed maturation to storage (including shelf life (longevity in controlled conditions; commercially and in gene banks), from dormancy to germination until seedling establishment.
  The course focuses primarily on mechanisms and regulation of these phase transitions that are strongly affected by the environment, both in an ecological and agricultural context, but will also address seed technological aspects (including priming, storage, coating), such as seed quality and its enhancement.
  Disciplines: genetics, physiology, environment (global change), systems biology

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:

• Recognize and describe the phase transitions in the seed life cycle
• Explain and discuss how the different seed stages are regulated, and how these are influenced by the environment
• Discuss the seed traits that represent (industrial) seed quality and give examples of the various methods to enhance seed quality
• Identify and select relevant information (literature) on a given or chosen topic within the course framework
• Formulate a research question based on a given assignment, execute the relevant experiment(s) and present the results to the peer group

Mandatory Knowledge:
ZSS06100 Laboratory Safety
Assumed Knowledge:
Plant physiology, molecular biology and genetics. For example CLB10803 Reproduction of Plants, GEN11806 Fundamentals of Genetics and Molecular Biotechnology, GEN20806 Plant Biotechnology or PPH10806 Structure and Function of Plants