By Chase Mowry, Seed Laboratory Manager
This past June, I attended the AOSA/SCST Annual Meeting, held in Skokie, Illinois. This annual joint meeting of the Association of Official Seed Analysts and the Society of Commercial Seed Technologists provides a great opportunity to connect with colleagues within the seed testing community and to discuss emerging technologies in the industry and issues analysts are encountering in their laboratories.
Throughout the four-day event, committees met to discuss various aspects of seed testing, such as research, cultivar purity, germination and dormancy, statistics, and vigor testing. In addition, board and business meetings for the individual organizations were held.
Attending the AOSA/SCST Annual Meeting also provides analysts (SCST) or laboratories (AOSA) the opportunity to vote on rule proposals, submitted by members, to modify the AOSA Rules for Testing Seeds. Analysts follow these rules when conducting domestic testing. The proposals address such issues as adding germination or purity testing requirements for new species, modifying existing testing methods, classifying contaminants, reporting test results, or simply clarifying current rules.
This year, there were nineteen rule proposals: fourteen passed, four failed, and one was withdrawn. Of those that passed, several included adding germination testing methods for new species, species classifications, the addition or modification of common names of a few species, and the addition of Apiaceae seedling illustrations to aid in germination evaluation.
For detailed information on the AOSA/SCST Annual Meeting proceedings, including individual committee reports and rule proposals, visit the AOSA/SCST website: analyzeseeds.com.