Cultural relict plant species from the Nordic countries have been collected by the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) for the purpose of conservation. To ensure high seed vitality in store, regular germination tests need to be conducted. It is important to get a correct viability status, but the knowledge of seed dormancy in the cultural relict plants is often poor. The objective of this study was to investigate how seed dormancy is affected by cold stratification. The study includes 31 accessions from 28 species with the purpose of establishing germination protocols.

Oilseed rape constitutes a good break crop within a cereal dominated cropping system. The normal sowing time for winter rape in Sweden is August. It's a time in the cropping year characterized by a heavy work load, such as harvest and soil management. In addition, it is often a period with large precipitation. Thus, it is sometimes problematic for the farmer to do the sowing of winter rape at the optimal time.

Over the past few years the Swedish forestry industry has become increasing interested in direct seeding. Although, in practice, this interest has been restricted to pine seed, the knowledge and techniques that have been developed for pine seeding can readily be transferred to spruce. Direct seeding is a method that is of interest to the forestry industry since it can lead to lower regeneration costs, denser stands and better root development than the more conventional planting method. This study evaluated experiments that focused on direct seeding of spruce in the northern Sweden. Skogforsk set-up the experiments in Gideå and Sävar in 2003.

At seed-growing the aim is to produce a commodity with high germination capacity, good soundness and purity, and also slight admixture of seeds from other species. The capacity of germination and the vigour of the seeds may become impaired in consequence of mechanical damage, infection of diseases, growth of mould, attacks of vermin, high drying temperature, secret germination, sprouting in the ears etc. The germ belongs to the outer and most unprotected parts of the seed, and consequently this is much exposed. Even quite sound seeds can instantaneously have low capability of germination. It can be due to the fact that the seeds are in rest of germination, i.e.

This thesis is built on a field study that was carried out in two seed-tree stands near by Götbrunna in Uppland, Sweden. The aim was to examine if scarification carried out in spring time could generate a more dense seedling establishment when using natural generation, than scarification carried out in autumn. It was also investigated whether there were differences in mortality the first season between the two plot-types. Plots were established block-wise with 50 blocks (pairs) on each site. The spring scarification was made with a hoe during 22-23 of April.

This is a project about how you grow timothy seed and red clover seed successfully. The main part is about economic analyse to see if it is any economy by growing leyseed. There are lots of things to be aware of to get all the costs in your economic analyze. Timothy Timothy seed is planted on 4400 hectares in Sweden. It is possible to grow timothy seed in the south part of Sweden. Timothy is very sensitive for dry weather in spring and in the beginning to summer. Timothy gives acceptable harvest of seed for about three years. Red clover Red clover is also sensitive for dry weather and is suitable to grow in the south part of Sweden.

Broad beans are becoming a larger crop in Sweden. This is probably due to the current discussion about the cultivation of soya beans that are imported to be used as protein fodder. Broad beans are a good break crop in a small grain intensive crop rotation and works as a protein source for animals together with for example ley. At present little research has been done on broad beans and more knowledge is needed. This study is about fungal communities and diseases on broad beans and the impact of these fungi on Seed germination.

Aerated steam treatment is a modern and environmental friendly method for seed borne fungus sanitation, mainly used on cereals. The method involves exposure to heat and high humidity, factors which are known to induce a fast ageing of seeds, thus resulting in reduced storability. This thesis clarifies the interdependence between seed age and the aerated steam treatment intensities. Two studies were carried out in this thesis. In the first study the storage longevity of seeds treated with aerated steam was examined. The second study investigated the shelf-life of the pre-tests used to determine the aerated steam treatment tolerance of a seed lot, by testing the treatment tolerance of seeds aged prior to the treatment.

In Sweden, grass is the single largest crop grown. Nearly 1 000 000 Ha grows on the fields, this is primarily used as feed for livestock. To get a good seed, you need to handle the crop carefully from planting to delivery. The part that I have been interested in, is how to dry the harvested seed with out destroying the growth in the small seed. This is very easily done if you aren?t careful during the drying period.

The agriculture in Sweden today uses chemical substances to control vermin, weed and diseases. This usage shows through polluted subsoil water and trace elements in the food we eat. There?s a risk that additional symptoms will arise in the future. Our product Sha Jun, developed in 2006-2007, is an attempt to try and minimize the need of chemicals in the agriculture. The idea started with the attempt to minimize the usage of pesticides on the cropland.

Oilseed rape is an important crop in Sweden and is grown on about 90000 ha today. The interest in oil seed pro-duction is increasing because of growing demand and high prices for oil seed both in Sweden and Europe. However, an increased intensity in the oil seed production can bring higher risk of yield losses due to fungal diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate what different fungi are associated with oilseed rape under field conditions and if their incidence is correlated to crop establishment problems. This study was carried out in three parts: 1) investigations on fungal community structure in roots and rhizosphere soils from young spring- and winter rape plants sampled in failed respectively good establishment patches in four fields, 2) investigations on the pathogenicity of fungi isolated from oilseed rape in controlled environment and 3) investigations on the effect of different fungicide seed treatments on germination and early plant development in a field soil naturally infested with damping off- and Verticillium wilt pathogens. The studies on community structure using a combined approach of standard fungal isolation techniques and DNA based methods revealed a high fungal diversity in three out of four studied fields of spring rape and winter rape. For some unknown reason, very few fungal species were identified from the fourth field.

According to the EEG-councils regulation nr 2092/91, all seed used in organic production must have organic origin. All seed which is offered for sale must be controlled by KRAV, and also comply with the rules of the seedlegislation. The seedlegislation contains demands respecting origin, quality, growingconditions and freedom from deseases. In this piece of work I will investigate the profitability of organic potatoseedproduction, and also what it takes to produce potatoseed. The workmethod has been to, with help from counsellors and growers, make some compareable calculations for foodpotatoes and seedpotatoes, and also with help from a literaturestudy investigate which requires an organic seedcultivation must fulfil. In this piece of work I found out that the organic potatoseedproduction still is to insecure to be profitable. The attack of potatoleafmould, which is out of control, cause unequal yields and this will bring that the new EU-rules, concerning organic seed, not seems defendable yet..

The use of combi-drilling during spring tillage has become very common in southern Sweden in recent years. Combi-drilling leads to fewer passes on the field and better plant nutrient utilisation. An example of a combi-drill is the Väderstad Rapid, which is very widely used in spring tillage in southern Sweden. The Rapid has separate fertiliser and seed coulters, which means that the draught requirement is relatively high. It thus requires large, heavy tractors, which compact the soil and are comparatively expensive to buy and run. A few years ago the Finnish combi-drill Tume Nova Combi came onto the Swedish market.

The economic situation in the Swedish agricultural industry is currently experiencing a development towards larger units. This progress occurs simultaneously as farmers in cooperation more frequently make investments to decrease risk exposure and to improve the financial result. The purpose with this thesis is to study which advantages and problems a group of farmers experience after a common investment in a small-scale seed production. The aim with this investment is to increase the level of vertical integration in their respective agricultural firms and the results will be analyzed from an economic point of view. At present, the farmers are all seed producers with considerable cultivation areas.

The main project Dry preservation of source-separated organic household wastes involves a new technique for treatment of biowaste through drying. Investigations are going on to determine how the dried biowaste best can be used to close the natural circular flow of nutrients. The objective of this degree project is to determine if the dried biowaste can be used as a soil conditioner. By restoring the nutrients in the material to the ground, the natural circular flow is closed. A declaration of contents, including the nutrient levels, C/N ratio, pH and the electrical conductivity of the dried biowaste, was constructed and a germination test was done to make sure that the material did not inhibit sprouting.