Germination Committee

Germination is one of the oldest and most basic criteria for seed quality evaluation. Many germination studies have been carried out by ISTA over the last 80 years. The ISTA International Rules for Seed Testing offer several thousand alternative germination methods for more than 600 species, covering agricultural and vegetable species, tree and shrub, flower, spice, herb and medicinal species. The germination test methods have remained more or less the same since the beginning of the 20th century, in which seed samples are germinated in a substrate, under controlled environmental conditions.

Aim:

• To update and contribute to improving germination test methods, through an application of increased knowledge, technological progress, or through regulations requests (such as ISTA Standard of Accreditation, ISO 17025).
• To improve the germination instructions in Chapter 5 of the ISTA Rules.
• To introduce methods for species not yet covered by the ISTA Rules. Specific attention will be applied to tropical and subtropical species.
• To create training materials such as the ISTA Handbook on Seedling Evaluation and other guidelines.
• To conduct workshops in germination testing for the training of analysts.
• To share knowledge among laboratories and seed testing analysts, facilitating exchange and improving the standardisation of methods.