Method Validation Programme

ISTA as an international organisation has a goal of uniformity in seed testing. The need for seed testing methods that are reliable and reproducible among member laboratories is therefore a basic need for ISTA; this is achieved through The International Rules for Seed Testing (ISTA Rules).

Before being accepted into the ISTA Rules, most test methods have gone through collaborative study among laboratories to ensure that the test procedure gives reliable and reproducible results in accordance with the given specifications of the test method.

However, in the past, ISTA has not always had a consistent system for the introduction of seed test methods into the ISTA Rules, the process varying depending on which of ISTA's Technical Committees put forward the Rules Proposal. This issue was first addressed by the ISTA Seed Health Committee, who in 2000 produced their 'Handbook of Method Validation for the Detection of Seed-Borne Pathogens'.

In 2002 the ISTA Executive Committee decided that method validation should apply to all seed quality testing, not just tests for seed health.