Seed health and quality of selected vegetable cultivars from different seed producers

摘要

There is an increased interest and need to produce vegetables by home gardeners and small-scale farmers, and this trend can play an important role to enhance food supply and reduce the risk of hunger, poverty and malnutrition. Seed quality is one of the main factors that affect crop production potential. Differences in seed quality lead to various problems experienced in home garden and small-scale vegetable production including low seed germination, variation in seed counts per packet, and high seedcost. The objective of this study was to investigate the differences in seed quality of selected vegetable cultivars from different seed producers available from a commercial retail outlet, for home gardening and small-scale farming. The experiment wascarried out under a controlled environment in the laboratory, and the germination capacity, seed health, number of seeds per packet, seed weight and seed price were compared. There were significant differences in the seed quality parameters measured, concerning seed germination capacity, seed weight and number of seeds per packet. The possible effect of the seed quality differences on vegetable production and cost for home gardeners and small-scale farmers, was discussed.