It’s really as simple as it sounds. Seed testing is performed in dedicated laboratories by trained and usually certified analysts. The tests are designed to evaluate the quality of the seed lot being sold. The tests will aware you about the purity of your seed, how well it will grow under stress, how well it will germinate, what diseases are present in the seed, and much more.
Generally, several tests are done in Seed Testing Laboratories:
Germination test: Reports the percentage of seed that germinated. Tests are usually made in 200 or 400 seed samples.
Purity test: The percentage of seed described on the label that is actually found in the quantity of seed.
TZ test: A test for viability that involves three steps: 1. preconditioning (imbibition); 2. preparation and staining (sometimes cutting the seed and then soaking the seed in a 2,3,5 triphenyl tetrazolium chloride solution); and 3. evaluation (examining the seed for a color change in the embryo).
Weed test: Examines a sample of seed and identifies every seed that is different from the labeled seed kind.
