Seed saving
Encyclopedia
In agriculture
and gardening
, seed saving is the practice of saving seeds or other reproductive material (e.g. tuber
s) from open-pollinated
vegetable
s, grain
, herb
s, and flower
s for use from year to year for annuals and nuts
, tree fruits
, and berries
for perennials and trees. This is the tradition
al way farm
s and garden
s were maintained.
In recent decades, there has been a major shift to purchasing seed annually from commercial seed suppliers, and to hybridized or cloned
plants that do not produce seed that remains "true to type
"-retaining the parent's characteristics- from seed. Many genetically modified seeds use "terminator technology" which makes the seeds unable to grow. This threatens farmer's independence as they then must buy seed from the company every year instead of saving their own . Much of the grassroots
seed-saving activity today is the work of home gardeners. However, it is gaining popularity among organic farmers
, permaculturists
and enthusiasts with cultural or environmentalist
interests.
s or "folk varieties". The modern trend to rely on hybridized and cloned plants negates these evolutionary processes. Hybrid plants are artificially cross-pollinated, and bred to favor desirable characteristics, like higher yield (in monocultures) and more uniform size to accommodate mechanized harvesting. However, the seed produced by the second generation (F2) of the hybrid does not reliably produce a true copy of that hybrid (it 'segregates') and often loses much of its yield potential.
, resulting in less hardy, more vulnerable plants. Countering this trend (an environmental and sustainability
issue), and an affinity for variety and tradition, are the principal motivations for many large seed-saving groups.
s: learning the minimum number
of plants to be grown which will preserve inherent genetic diversity, recognizing the preferred characteristics of the cultivar being grown so that plants that are not breeding true
are selected against, understanding and promoting the breeding of improvements
to the cultivar, using seed storage
methods that maintain viability, learning the conditions that maximize germination
, and detecting the presence of diseases that are seed-borne so that they can be eliminated.
Care must be taken, as training materials regarding seed production, cleaning, storage, and maintenance often focus on making landraces more uniform, distinct and stable (usually for commercial application) which can result in the loss of valuable adaptive traits unique to local varieties (Jarvis et al., 2000).
Additionally, there is a matter of localized nature to be considered.
In the upper northern hemisphere, and lower southern, one sees a seasonal change in terms of a cooler winter. Many plants go-to-seed and then go dormant. These seeds must hibernate until their respective spring season.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and gardening
Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
, seed saving is the practice of saving seeds or other reproductive material (e.g. tuber
Tuber
Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction...
s) from open-pollinated
Open pollination
Open pollination is pollination by insects, birds, wind, or other natural mechanisms, and contrasts with cleistogamy, closed pollination, which is one of the many types of self pollination...
vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s, grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
, herb
Herb
Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...
s, and flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s for use from year to year for annuals and nuts
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
, tree fruits
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
, and berries
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
for perennials and trees. This is the tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
al way farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
s and garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s were maintained.
In recent decades, there has been a major shift to purchasing seed annually from commercial seed suppliers, and to hybridized or cloned
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
plants that do not produce seed that remains "true to type
True breeding organism
A true breeding organism, sometimes also called a pure-bred, is an organism having certain biological traits which are passed on to all subsequent generations when bred with another true breeding organism for the same traits...
"-retaining the parent's characteristics- from seed. Many genetically modified seeds use "terminator technology" which makes the seeds unable to grow. This threatens farmer's independence as they then must buy seed from the company every year instead of saving their own . Much of the grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
seed-saving activity today is the work of home gardeners. However, it is gaining popularity among organic farmers
Organic farming
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
, permaculturists
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
and enthusiasts with cultural or environmentalist
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
interests.
Open Pollination
Open pollination is the key to seed saving. Plants that reproduce through natural means tend to adapt to local conditions over time, and evolve as reliable performers, particularly in their localities, known as landraceLandrace
A landrace is a local variety of a domesticated animal or plant species which has developed largely by natural processes, by adaptation to the natural and cultural environment in which it lives. It differs from a formal breed which has been bred deliberately to conform to a particular standard...
s or "folk varieties". The modern trend to rely on hybridized and cloned plants negates these evolutionary processes. Hybrid plants are artificially cross-pollinated, and bred to favor desirable characteristics, like higher yield (in monocultures) and more uniform size to accommodate mechanized harvesting. However, the seed produced by the second generation (F2) of the hybrid does not reliably produce a true copy of that hybrid (it 'segregates') and often loses much of its yield potential.
Loss of species
While comprehensive figures are hard to come by, one popular view today holds that thousands of varieties of vegetables and flowers are being lost, due to reliance on commercial hybrid seed. Widespread use of a relatively few mass-marketed hybrid seed varieties, in both home gardening and commercial farming, is said to be eliminating many open-pollinated varieties, especially the local variations that were naturally developed, when local seed-saving was the common practice. The concern is that this erodes the gene poolGene pool
In population genetics, a gene pool is the complete set of unique alleles in a species or population.- Description :A large gene pool indicates extensive genetic diversity, which is associated with robust populations that can survive bouts of intense selection...
, resulting in less hardy, more vulnerable plants. Countering this trend (an environmental and sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
issue), and an affinity for variety and tradition, are the principal motivations for many large seed-saving groups.
Method
To be successful at seed saving, new skills need to be developed that enhance the capacity of growers to ensure that desired characteristics are retained in their landraceLandrace
A landrace is a local variety of a domesticated animal or plant species which has developed largely by natural processes, by adaptation to the natural and cultural environment in which it lives. It differs from a formal breed which has been bred deliberately to conform to a particular standard...
s: learning the minimum number
Genetic drift
Genetic drift or allelic drift is the change in the frequency of a gene variant in a population due to random sampling.The alleles in the offspring are a sample of those in the parents, and chance has a role in determining whether a given individual survives and reproduces...
of plants to be grown which will preserve inherent genetic diversity, recognizing the preferred characteristics of the cultivar being grown so that plants that are not breeding true
Volunteer (botany)
In gardening and botanical terminology, a volunteer is a plant that grows on its own, rather than being deliberately planted by a farmer or gardener...
are selected against, understanding and promoting the breeding of improvements
Artificial selection
Artificial selection describes intentional breeding for certain traits, or combination of traits. The term was utilized by Charles Darwin in contrast to natural selection, in which the differential reproduction of organisms with certain traits is attributed to improved survival or reproductive...
to the cultivar, using seed storage
Seedbank
A seedbank stores seeds as a source for planting in case seed reserves elsewhere are destroyed. It is a type of gene bank. The seeds stored may be food crops, or those of rare species to protect biodiversity. The reasons for storing seeds may be varied...
methods that maintain viability, learning the conditions that maximize germination
Germination
Germination is the process in which a plant or fungus emerges from a seed or spore, respectively, and begins growth. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm. However the growth of a sporeling from a spore, for example the...
, and detecting the presence of diseases that are seed-borne so that they can be eliminated.
Care must be taken, as training materials regarding seed production, cleaning, storage, and maintenance often focus on making landraces more uniform, distinct and stable (usually for commercial application) which can result in the loss of valuable adaptive traits unique to local varieties (Jarvis et al., 2000).
Additionally, there is a matter of localized nature to be considered.
In the upper northern hemisphere, and lower southern, one sees a seasonal change in terms of a cooler winter. Many plants go-to-seed and then go dormant. These seeds must hibernate until their respective spring season.
See also
- Agricultural biodiversityAgricultural biodiversityAgricultural biodiversity is a sub-set of general biodiversity. It includes all forms of life directly relevant to agriculture: rare seed varieties and animal breeds , but also many other organisms such as soil fauna, weeds, pests, predators, and all of the native plants and animals existing on...
- BiodiversityBiodiversityBiodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
- Heirloom plantHeirloom plantAn heirloom plant, heirloom variety, or heirloom vegetable is a cultivar that was commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture...
- Orthodox seedOrthodox seedOrthodox seeds are seeds which will survive drying and/or freezing during ex-situ conservation. According to information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture there is variation in the ability of orthodox seeds to withstand drying and storage with some seeds being more sensitive than others...
- Plant breedingPlant breedingPlant breeding is the art and science of changing the genetics of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. Plant breeding can be accomplished through many different techniques ranging from simply selecting plants with desirable characteristics for propagation, to more complex molecular...
- Recalcitrant seedRecalcitrant seedRecalcitrant seeds are seeds that do not survive drying and freezing during ex-situ conservation. Moreover, these seeds cannot resist the effects of drying or temperatures less than 10° C; thus, they cannot be stored for long periods like orthodox seeds because they can lose their viability...
- Sustainable agricultureSustainable agricultureSustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...
- Seedy SundaySeedy SundaySeedy Sunday or Seedy Saturday refers to events where people get together to swap seeds, especially heirloom varieties, or varieties that have been in the family for years if not several generations. lists the various Canadian seed exchanges....
- Seed treatmentSeed treatmentIn agriculture, a seed treatment or seed dressing is a chemical, typically antimicrobial or fungidal, with which seeds are treated prior to planting...
Further reading
- Ashworth, Suzanne & Whealy, Kent; Seed to Seed: Seed Saving Techniques for the Vegetable Gardener, Seed Savers Exchange, 2002. ISBN 9781882424580
- Beck, Edward; A Packet of Seeds Saved by an Old Gardener, 2008. ISBN 9780559854682
- Deppe, Carol; Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener's and Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2000. ISBN 9781890132729
- Fanton, Michel and Jude; "The Seed Savers' Handbook", Seed Savers' Network, 1993. ISBN 0646102265
- Mcgrath, Mike; Save and sow seeds of your favourite vegetables, Quirk Books (Stati Uniti), 2009. ISBN 9781594742897
- Vellve, Renee; Saving the seed: genetic diversity and european agriculture, Londra, Earthscan Publications, 1992. ISBN 1853831506
- Whealy, Kent; Garden Seed Inventory: An Inventory of Seed Catalogs Listing All Non-Hybrid Vegetable Seeds Available in the United States and Canada, Seed Savers Exchange, 2005. ISBN 9781882424603
- An Introduction to Seed Saving for the Home Gardener, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Bulletin 2750
External links
- US makes seed saving illegal in Iraq
- One-hour radio broadcast on Terminator seed technology; a threat to seed saving - Kootenay Co-op Radio's Deconstructing Dinner
- Australian National - Seed Savers Network
- South Australian Seed Savers Network
- International Seed Saving Institute
- Seed Saving and Seed Saver Resources
- Traditional foods, modern diets and the conservation of biodiversity
- Save Our Seed - Seed Production, Seed Saving and Small Equipment guides US Southeast
- Organic Seed Alliance - Seed Production guides US Northwest
- Seed & Plant Sanctuary for Canada
- Free seed saving / organization software