Seed rate , seed

treatment
& sowing in the
nursery
Made by :
SEED RATE:-

 Th e quantity of seed required for

sowing or planting in an unit area.
 The seed rate for a particular crop
would depend not only on its seed
size/test weight,
 But also on its desired population ,
germination percentage & purity
percentage of seed .
 It is calculated as

seed rate { kg} = area to be

sown in m2 × test weight of the
seed in gm × 1 /germination % ×
purity % × spacing (m) × 1000
 A seed rate of about 100 kg of seed
per hectare (2 bushels per acre) is
typical, though rates vary
considerably depending on crop
species, soil conditions, and farmer's
preference.
 Excessive rates can cause the crop
to lodge, while too thin a rate will
result in poor utilisation of the land,
competition with weedsand a
SEED TREATMENT

 Seed treatment refers to the

application of fungicide, insecticide, or
a combination of both, to seeds so as
to disinfect and disinfect them from
seed-borne or soil-borne pathogenic
organisms and storage insects. 
Benefits of Seed
Treatment:
 1) Prevents spread of plant diseases
 2) Protects seed from seed rot and
seedling blights
 3) Improves germination
 4) Provides protection from storage
insects
 5) Controls soil insects.
Methods of seed
treatment
1) Dry treatment:-
mixing of seed with powder form
of pesticides/ nutrients.
3) Wet treatment :-
soaking of seed in
pesticide/nutrient solutions.
5) Slurry treatment:-
dipping of seeds/seedling in slurry
Ex. Rice seedling are dipped in phosphate
slurry.
 4) pelleting :-
it is the coating of solid materials
in sufficient quantities to make the
seeds larger, heavier & to appear
uniform in size for sowing with seed
drills.
Pelleting with pesticides as a
protectant against soil organisms,
soil pests & as a replellant against
birds & rodents .
Types of Seed Treatment:

 1) Seed disinfection:
Seed
disinfection refers to the eradication
of fungal spores that have become
established within the seed coat,
or more deep-seated tissues.  For
effective control, the fungicidal
treatment must actually penetrate
the seed in order to kill the fungus
that is present.
 2) Seed disinfestation: 
Seed
disinfestation refers to the
destruction of surface-borne
organisms that have contaminated
the seed surface but not infected
the seed surface.  Chemical dips,
soaks, fungicides applied as dust,
slurry or liquid have been found
successful.
 3) Seed Protection: 
The purpose of
seed protection is to protect the
seed and young seedling from
organisms in the soil which might
otherwise cause decay of the seed
before germination.
Conditions under which
seed must be treated
 1) Injured Seeds:
Any break in the
seed coat of a seed affords an
excellent opportunity for fungi to
enter the seed and either kill it, or
awaken the seedling that will be
produced  from it.  Seeds suffer
mechanical injury during combining
and threshing operations, or from
being dropped from excessive
heights.  They may also be injured
by weather or improper storage.
 2) Diseased seed:
 Seed may be
infected by disease organisms even
at the time of harvest, or may
become infected during processing,
if processed on contaminated
machinery or if stored in
contaminated containers or
warehouses.
 3) Undesirable soil conditions:
Seeds are
sometimes planted under
unfavourable soil conditions such
as cold and damp soils, or
extremely dry soils.  Such
unfavourable soil conditions may be
favourable to the growth and
development of certain fungi spores
enabling them to attack and damage
 4) Disease-free seed: 
Seeds are
invariably infected, by disease
organisms ranging from no
economic consequence to severe
economic consequences.  Seed
treatment provides a good
insurance against diseases, soil-
borne organisms and thus affords
protection to weak seeds enabling
Equipments used for Seed
Treatment:
 1) Slurry Treaters

 2) Direct Treaters

 3) Home-made drum mixer

 4)Grain auger

 5) Shovel
Precautions in Seed
Treatment:
 Most products used in the treatment of
seeds are harmful to humans, but they
can also be harmful to seeds. 
 Extreme care is required  to ensure
that treated seed is never used as
human or animal food.  To minimise
this possibility, treated seed should be
clearly labelled as being dangerous, if
consumed. 
 The temptation to use unsold treated
seed for human or animal feed can be
avoided if care is taken to treat only the
quantity for which sales are assured.
 Care must also be taken to treat
seed at the correct dosage rate;
applying too much or too little
material can be as damaging as
never treating at all. 
 Seed with a very high moisture
content is very susceptible to injury
when treated with some of the
concentrated liquid products.
If the seeds are to be treated with
bacterial cultures also, the order in
which seed treatments should be
done shall be as follows
 i) fungicide
 ii) bacterial cultures.
Sowing

 Sowing is the process of planting 

seeds. before sowing, good quality
seeds (clean and healthy seeds)
should be selected to produce a high
yield.
Methods of sowing

 Seed are sown directly in the field

(seed bed) or in the nursery
( nursery bed ) where seedling are
raised & transplanted later.
 Direct seeding may be done by
a) Broadcasting :-
it is the scattering or
spreading of the seeds on the soil
which may or may not be done by
hand,mechanicaal spreader or
 Broadcasting the seeds is the
easy,quick & cheap method of
seeding .
 The difficulties observed in
broadcasting are uneven
distribution,improper placement of
seeds & less soil cover &
compaction.
 As all the seeds are not placed in
uniform density & depth , there is no
 It is mostly suited for closely paced &
small seeded crops.
b)Dibbling:-
it is the placing of seeds in a hole
or pit made at a predetermined
spacing & depth with a dibbler or
planeter or very often by hand.
Dibbling is mmore laborious,time
consuming & expensive compared to
germination with good seedling
 C) drilling :-
it is the practice of dropping seeds
in a definite depth, covered with soil
& compacted.
sowing implements like seed drill or
seed cum fertilizer drill are used.
manures,fertilizers,soil
amendments,pesticides,etc. May be
applied along with seeds.
 Seeds are drilled continuosly or at
regular intervals in rows.
 it requires more time, energy & cost
but maintains uniform population
per unit area.
 rows are set according to the
requirements .
 Seeds are placed at uniform
depth,covered & compacted.
 D) sowing In the nursery :-
it is an operation in which seeds
are placed in the plough furrow
either continously or at required
spacing by a man working behind a
plough.
when the plough take the next
adjacent furrow.
depth of sowing is adjusting the
depth of the plough furrow.
 E) Planting :-
placing seeds or seed
material firmly in the soil to grow.

F) Transplanting :-
planting seedling in the main field
after pulling out from the nursery.
it is done to reduce the main field
duration of the crops facilitating to
grow more number of crops in an
 It is easy to give extra care for
tender seedling.
 For small seeded crops whhich
require shallow sowing & frequent
irrigation for proper
germination,raising nursery is the
easiest way.
Pre-monsoon sowing:-

 Normally sowing is taken up after

receipt of sufficient amount of
rainfall (20 mm) in the case of
dryland system of farming .
 Since sowing is continued for two or
three days after a soaking
rain,certain amount of moisture is
last during the period between the
receipt of rainfall & sowing.
 In the case of heavy clay soils (black
 To over come this difficult, sowing is
takenup in dry soil prepared with
summer rains,7 to 10 days before
the anticipated receipt of sowing
rains.
 The seeds germinate after the
receipt of the rainfall .
 This method of sowing is known as
drysowing or pre-monsoon sowing.
 By this method the entire rainfall
Factors involved in
sowing management :-
Tthis can be classified into 2 broad
groups:
2)Mechanical factors:
such as depth of sowing,
emergence habit, seed size & weight
seed texture, seed contact, seed bed
fertility, soil moisture.
4)Biological factor:
like companion crops,
competition for light, soil
1) Mechanical factor:
 A) seed size & weight:
heavy & bold seeds produce
vigorous seedling.
application of fertilizer to bold seed
tends to encourage the seedlings
than the seedling from small seeds.
B) Depth of sowing :
optimum depth of sowing ranges
from 2.5-3 cm.
 Depth of sowing depends on seed
size & availability of soil moisture.
 Deeper sowing delays field
emergence & thus delays crop
duration.
 Deeper sowing sometimes ensures
crop ssurvival under adverse
weather & soil conditions mostly in
dry lands.
 C) emergence habit:
 D) seed bed :
soil texture should minimize crust
formation & maximize aeration which
in turn influence the gages,
temperature & water content of the
soil .
very fine soil may not maintain
adequate temparature & water
holding capacity.
 E) seeds-soil contact:
seeds require close contact
with soil particles to ensure that
water can be absorbed readily.
forming the soil around the seed
(broadcast seeds) after sowing
improves the soil-edd contact.
D)Seed bed fertility:
tillering crop like rice, ragi,bajra
etc.should be sown thinly on fertile
 Similarly high seed rate are used on
poor soil for non tillering crops.
 although jigher the seed rate
greater he yeild under conditions of
low soil fertility, in some cases such
as cotton, a lower seed rate gives
better result than a higher seed rate
.
 G)soil moisture:
excess moisture in soil reetards
 Adjustment in depth is made
according to moisture
conditons,i.e.,deeper sowing on dry
soils & shallow sowing on wet soils.
 Sowing on riges is usually
recommended on poorly drained soil.
2) Biological factor:

a) Companion crop:
is usually sown early to suppress
weed growth & control soil erosion.
in cassava+maize/yam cropping,
cassava is planted later in yam or
maize to minimize the effect of
competition for light.
in mixed cropping all the crops are
sown at the same time.
 B) competition of ligh:
in mixed stands, optimum
spacing for each crop minimizes the
competition of light.
C) Soil micro organisms:
the micro organisms presenting in
the soil should favour seed
germination & should not
Sowing in practice

 Pretreatment of seed and soil

before sowing:
Tropical fruit such asavocado also
benefit from special seed
treatments (specificly invented for that
particular tropical fruit)
 Before sowing, certain seeds first
require a treatment prior to the sowing
process. This treatment may be 
seed scarification, stratification, 
seed soaking orseed cleaning with cold
 Seed soaking is generally done by
placing seeds in medium hot water
for at least 24 to up to 48
hours  Seed cleaning is done
especially with fruit (as the flesh of
the fruit around the seed can quickly
become prone to attack from insects
or plagues.
 ] To clean the seed, usually 
seed rubbings with cloth/paper is
 Seed washing is generally done by
submerging cleansed seeds 20
minutes in 50 degree Celsius water .
 This (rather hot than moderately
hot) water kills any organisms that
may have survived on the skin of the
seed.
 Especially with easily infected
tropical fruit such as lychees and 
rambutans, seed washing with high
 In addition to the mentioned seed
pretreatments, seed germination is
also assisted when disease-free soil
is used.
 Especially when trying to germinate
difficult seed (e.g. certain tropical
fruit), prior treatment of the soil
(along with the usage of the most
suitable soil; e.g. potting soil,
prepared soil or othersubstrates) is
vital.

 Depending on the necessity,
pasteurisation is to be preferred as
this does not kill all organisms.
 Sterilisation can be done when trying
to grow truly difficult crops.
 To pasteurise the soil, the soil is
heated for 15 minutes in an oven of
120 °C.
Plants which are usually
sown
 Among the major field crops, oats, 
wheat, and rye are sowed, grasses
and legumes are seeded, and maize
 and soybeans are planted.
 In planting, wider rows (generally 75
cm (30 in) or more) are used, and
the intent is to have precise, even
spacing between individual seeds in
the row; various mechanisms have
been devised to count out individual
 Sowing depth:
In seeding, little if any soil is
placed over the seeds.
More precisely, seeds can be
generally sown into the soil by
maintaining a planting depth of
about 2-3 times the size of the seed.
Sowing types and
patterns
 For hand sowing, several sowing
types exist; these include [7]:
 Flat sowing
 Ridge sowing
 Wide bed sowing
 Several patterns for sowing may be
used together with these types;
these include:
 Regular rows
 Rows that are indented at the even
rows (so that the seeds are placed in
a crossed pattern). This method is
much better, as more light may fall
on the seedlings as they come out.
Types of sowing

 Hand sowing:
Hand sowing is the process of
casting handfuls of seed over
prepared ground: broadcasting.
Usually, a drag or harrow is employed
to incorporate the seed into the soil.
Though labor intensive for any but
small areas, this method is still used
in some situations.
Practice is required to sow evenly and
at the desired rate.
 A hand seeder can be used for
sowing, though it is less of a help
than it is for the smaller seeds of 
grasses and legumes.
 Hand sowing may be combined with
pre-sowing in seed trays. This allows
the plants to come to strength
indoors during cold periods (eg
spring in temperate countries).
 In agriculture, most seed is now
sown using a seed drill, which offers
greater precision; seed is sown
evenly and at the desired rate.
 The drill also places the seed at a
measured distance below the soil, so
that less seed is required.
 The standard design uses a fluted
feed metering system, which is
volumetric in nature; individual
 Rows are typically about 10-30 cm
apart, depending on the crop species
and growing conditions.
 Several row opener types are used
depending on soil type and local
tradition. Grain drills are most often
drawn by tractors, but can also be
pulled by horses.
 Pickup trucks are sometimes used,
since little draft is required.
Open field

 Open-field refers to the form of

sowing used historically in the
agricultural context whereby fields
 are prepared generically and left
open, as the name suggests, before
being sown directly with seed.
 The seed is frequently left uncovered
at the surface of the soil before
germinating and therefore exposed
to the prevailing climate and
 This is in contrast to theseedbed
 method used more commonly in
domestic gardening or more specific
(modern) agricultural scenarios
where the seed is applied beneath
the soil surface and monitored and
manually tended frequently to
ensure more successful growth rates
and better yields.
  
Plant nursery

 nursery is a place where plants are 

propagated and grown to usable
size.
 There are retail nurseries which sell
to the general public, wholesale
nurseries which sell only to other
nurseries and to commercial 
landscape gardeners, and private
nurseries which supply the needs of
institutions or private estates.
Types of plants

 Nurseries grow annuals, perennials,
and woody plants (trees and shrubs).
 These have a variety of uses:
decorative plants for 
flower gardening and landscaping,
garden  vegetable  plants, and
agricultural  plants.
 Some nurseries specialize in one
phase of the process: propagation,
growing out, or retail sale; or in one
type of plant:
 groundcovers, shade plants,
fruit trees, or rock garden plants.
Methods

 Nurseries often grow plants in a 

greenhouse, a building of glass or in
plastic tunnels, designed to protect
young plants from harsh weather
(especially frost), while allowing
access to light and ventilation.
 Modern greenhouses allow
automated control of temperature,
ventilation and light and semi-
automated watering and feeding.
 Some also have fold-back roofs to allow
"hardening-off" of plants without the
need for manual transfer to outdoor
beds.
 Most nurseries remain highly labour-
intensive. Although some processes
have been mechanised and automated,
others have not. It remains highly
unlikely that all plants treated in the
same way at the same time will arrive
at the same condition together, so plant
care requires observation, judgement
and manual dexterity; selection for sale
requires comparison and judgement.
 Business is highly seasonal,
concentrated in spring and autumn.
 There is no guarantee that there will
be demand for the product - this will
be affected by temperature, drought,
cheaper foreign competition, fashion,
etc.
 A nursery carries these risks and
fluctuations.
 Annuals are sold in trays (undivided
containers with multiple plants), flats
(trays with built-in cells), peat pots,
or plastic pots.
 Perennials and woody plants are
sold either in pots, bare-root or
balled and burlaped and in a variety
of sizes, from liners to mature trees.
 Balled and Burlap trees are dug either
by hand or by a loader that has a tree
spade attachment on the front of the
machine.
 Although container grown woody plants
are becoming more and more popular
due to the versatility. B & B is still
widely used throughout the industry.
 Plants may be propagated by seeds,
but often desirable cultivars are 
propagated asexually by budding, 
grafting, layering, or other nursery