By Chase Mowry, Seed Laboratory Manager
For us at the Seed Laboratory, as for many of you, I’m sure, the summer months seemed to just fly by. We were busy over the summer conducting training, calibrating lab equipment, participating in proficiency testing, and stocking supplies for the upcoming season.
Grass samples submitted for testing remained steady over the summer months, with the number of samples about two weeks ahead of last year. This kept us quite busy and has provided the opportunity to do some more hands-on training. We have also received several germ updates on small grain crops, and more recently winter grain samples submitted for completing certification. Preliminary germ tests have shown some Fusarium (scab) infection, to varying degrees, with the most significant presence found in rye.
As fall arrived, we continued staff training in the laboratory as well as on campus with soybean field inspections and the evaluation of soybean grow-out plots. There were also several accreditation items in need of completion before the influx of fall samples.
As a reminder, please complete a Sampling Report when submitting your samples. Be sure to provide all pertinent information, including crop year, as this will dictate if a prechill is necessary for certain species.