Measuring seed lot purity
What is seed lot purity?
Seed lot purity is a measure of the impurities in a seed batch. These include
- weed and other crop seed, and
- inert matter
How is seed lot purity measured?
- Select, at random, a sample of the seed. A good sample size is 100g.
- Weigh the sample [A].
- Remove all of the weed and other crop seeds and the inert matter.
- Weigh the weed and the other crop seed matter that had been removed [B]
- Compute the weed percentage using this equation:
- Weigh the inert matter removed from the sample [C], the percentage inert matter is calculated using the formula:
For more information:
Visit the Rice Knowledge Bank website (http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org), email postharvest@irri.org; or call +63 2 580 5600.
Prepared by M Gummert with inputs from JF Rickman (2004); updated by M Gummert (2010)