Abstract:

During storage, the seeds must maintain unaltered all their physical, chemical, biological and organoleptic attributes manifested at harvest, some of which can even be improved in order to prolong as much as possible their biological and economic longevity, the justified quantitative and qualitative prevention respectively. The paper analysed the factors involved in sizing the longevity of seed grains intended for sowing and identifying the actual ways of extending the time span after which the seed germination reaches the minimum accepted value for the seeds intended for sowing. Four lots of certified wheat and barley seeds were analysed, by monitoring: the species, the variety, the biological category and the state of the seed mass respectively, expressed by quality indices that attest the physiological characteristics of the seed lots monitored. The seed lots analysed were not subjected to thermal, chemical, phytosanitary treatments. The experimental results obtained so far demonstrate possibilities to prolong, under controlled conditions, the viability of the seeds and, at the same time, the other characteristics of the food by lowering the moisture content of the batch and reducing the storage temperature. The results obtained may provide a basis for further research on the identification of viable models for optimizing the storage conditions of seed grains intended for sowing.