Seed cleaning

Malformed, discolored, germinated, broken or moldy grains in seed lots can severely impact seed quality, viability and vigor.

Visually inspect the seed prior to storage and consider removing these grains from the seed lot.

• Seed cleaning
  A seed cleaner uses a combination of winnowing with a fan to remove lighter particles (e.g. empty grains) and sifting with sieves on an oscillating screen to remove particles that are smaller (e.g. weed seeds) and larger particles (e.g. straw).
• Seed grading
  For commercial seed processing, seed grains should have uniform size and weight. A variety of commercial equipment can be used to achieve uniformity in seed size and shape. These include gravity tables, rotary screens, indented cylinders, and length graders.
• Seed purity
  Maintain seed purity by preventing mixing with other varieties, and contamination with other species.