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Low-cost seed storage technologies for development impact of small-scale seed saving entities in tropical climates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2022

Patrick Trail Open the ORCID record for Patrick Trail [Opens in a new window] ,
Timothy Motis Open the ORCID record for Timothy Motis [Opens in a new window] ,
Stacy Swartz  and
Abram Bicksler Open the ORCID record for Abram Bicksler [Opens in a new window]
Patrick Trail
Affiliation:
ECHO Asia Impact Center, 270/5 Tung Hotel Road, Soi 6, Watgate, Chiang Mai, Thailand 50000, USA
Timothy Motis*
Affiliation:
ECHO Inc., 17391 Durrance Road, North Fort Myers, Florida33917, USA
Stacy Swartz
Affiliation:
ECHO Inc., 17391 Durrance Road, North Fort Myers, Florida33917, USA
Abram Bicksler
Affiliation:
ECHO Asia Impact Center, 270/5 Tung Hotel Road, Soi 6, Watgate, Chiang Mai, Thailand 50000, USA Current affiliation: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Vialle delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome, 00153, Italy
*
*Corresponding author. Email: tmotis@echonet.org
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Summary

Seeds can deteriorate rapidly under high heat and humidity, making it challenging and potentially costly to store orthodox seeds effectively in the tropics, thereby affecting agriculture development. This work explores the effectiveness of novel, low-cost technologies for storing seeds in warm, humid, resource-constrained environments, focusing on maintaining the viability of seeds already dry prior to storage. Seeds of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench), and velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC) were kept for 12 months under roofed, outdoor screened porches. Seed moisture content prior to treatment was 6, 9, and 12% for okra, sorghum, and velvet bean, respectively. Treatments, replicated four times at each of two locations (USA [Florida] and Thailand), were technology suites involving vacuum drawn on glass jars with a modified bicycle pump, vacuum drawn on polyethylene bags with an electric vacuum sealing machine, desiccant (calcium oxide powder or zeolite Drying Beads® at a 2:1 ratio, by weight, of seeds to desiccant) in glass jars, and nontreated seeds in paper bags. Ambient temperature and humidity were variable and high, reaching over 35 °C and 83%, respectively, at both locations. Under these conditions, okra and sorghum germination percentages (across locations) without treatment declined from over 90% initially to 30 and 0%, respectively, by month 12. Both vacuum treatments and calcium oxide maintained high germination of okra (≈ 80%) and velvet bean seeds (nearly 100%) across locations. Glass, however, was superior to polyethylene in maintaining vacuum and stabilizing the moisture content of okra and sorghum seeds. Only zeolite reduced seed moisture below initial values, drying seeds to ultradry levels of <5%. With zeolite, sorghum germination stayed near 70% over time, while okra and velvet bean germination fell to <40 and <20%, respectively, by month 12, suggesting that, with the beads kept with dry seeds in storage rather than removing the beads after reaching a target level of seed moisture, the 2:1 ratio of seed-to-bead weight was too high for seeds that are sensitive to ultralow moisture. Findings have practical implications for inexpensive household- or community-level seed storage to deliver development impact.

Keywords

Seed SavingSeed BankingVacuum SealingDesiccantsZeolite Drying Beads®Community Seed BanksCalcium Oxide
Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 57 , Issue 5-6 , December 2021 , pp. 324 - 337
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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