Seed Production of Vegetable, Tuber and Spice Crops

Introduction-Seed

• ‘All the flowers of all the tomarrows are in the seeds of today’ - Swedish proverb
• Seed is the basic and critical input in crop husbandry, which determines the expected dividends from all other inputs.
  
• Agriculturally seed is the unit of propagation and can be any part of the plant (zygotic seed or vegetative propagules) which has the capability to regenerate into a new plant,but botanically it is defined as matured ripened ovule comprising living embryo embeded in the supporting food storage tissue with a protective coat .
  
• It is primarily responsible for maintaining the physical, physiological and genetic characteristics of any variety / hybrid of any crop.
  
• The differences between seed and commercial grain are as below.
  

Seed	Grain
Should be germinable and vigorous	Need not be
Should be physically and genetically pure	Need not be
Should satisfy all the quality norms	Need not be
Should be free from pest and diseases	Need not be
Seed is the outcome of planned and specific programme	Need not be