A three-day webinar on “Post-harvest Technologies for Better Seed Quality” with regional focus on Northern Zone of India was successfully conducted during March 15th – 17th, 2021 (4 hours per day) in cooperation with

  • DAC&FW, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India;
  • ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute Regional Station, Karnal, Haryana; and
  • Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India.

The capacity building measure was focused on most important seed crops of the Northern Zone, i.e. potato, wheat & barley.

More than 50 Officials from Seed Department of DAC & FW, MOA, GOI, Officials of State Department of Agriculture, National Seed Corporation, State Seed Corporation, Private Seed Industry associations (NSAI & FSII), ICAR institutes, SAU’s etc. have attended this webinar & participated in active discussions.

The webinar was opened with welcome remarks of Dr D K Yadava (ADG Seeds). Dr Steven Groot (International expert of Wageningen University), Dr Malavika Dadlani (Former JD-R) and Dr S. K. Chakrabarty (Head, ICAR-IARI) chaired the sessions during the three days. Along with external experts, Dr Sandeep Lal (Principal Scientist, ICAR-IARI), Dr Ashwini Kumar (Principal Scientist, ICAR- IARI, Karnal), Dr Rajinder Singh (Director Seeds – PAU) and other staff of ICAR-IARI also attended the webinar.

The following topics have been covered during the three days:

  • Seed development and maturation in relevance to seed quality;
  • Seed storage and deterioration: An overview;
  • Components, factors influencing seed quality and its maintenance during post-harvest handling: An overview;
  • Maintenance of seed quality during seed production;
  • Principles of seed drying, storage and packaging: its role in seed quality control;
  • Seed processing and post-harvest handling with special reference to potato, wheat and barley;
  • Biochemical changes during seed storage and their management with special reference to potato, wheat and barley;
  • Potato seed drying, storage and packaging methods;
  • Safe seed packaging technologies in potato, wheat and barley;
  • Integrated pest management for seed storage with special reference to potato, wheat and barley;
  • Seed health management for better seed quality of potato, wheat and barley;
  • On-farm seed storage in wheat.

In addition, Mr Ekkehard Schroeder (German Team Leader), Dr Sowmini Sunkara & Dr Raghavendra Kavali (National Project Coordinators, Indo-German Cooperation on Seed Sector Project) also participated and supported the organization of the webinar.

All speakers of the webinar prepared excellent presentations which have been distributed subsequently to the participants.