Be assured of consistent quality in every bag of Great Lakes Hybrids.

Quality is expected, but consistency is the key. That’s why we utilize a comprehensive, time-tested quality control program to ensure the highest purity in the industry. In fact, we have standards for purity that exceed industry standards for quality allowance.

Purity Standards

Industry purity standards are as follows:

• 4% selfs maximum
• 1% outcrosses and offtypes combined

Our purity standards are targeting 1% selfs and less than .5% offtypes and outcrosses. By meeting these standards, we are able to increase yields – which adds to our customers’ bottom-line profits.

Quality Assurance Testing

Our Quality Assurance program allows for a complete testing regimen for all seed lots available for our customers to purchase.

At our Quality Assurance testing laboratory, our seed experts:

• perform hands-on evaluation of germination
• conduct multiple tests simultaneously
• evaluate handling procedures based on the quality of the seed
• use tests such as saturated cold to identify and eliminate any steps in handling which cause damage

The seed is tested 3-4 times during a sales year.

All carry-over and returned seed is tested for warm germination and cold vigor before use in the rebag process. After rebag, a new finished lot is tested for all quality parameters including warm germination, cold vigor, mechanical purity, seed counts, traits (CB, CRW, RR, CL, LL, WX , etc.). An Official Warm Test for Seed Tagging regulations is performed in December or January according to the seed tag testing date. The cold vigor is retested on many lots again in the spring to assure the seed vigor is still within our high quality specifications.

For a new crop, the testing begins at the bulk seed level.

A preliminary random bulk sample is taken from the drier bins during the shelling process of each field. This sample is hand-screened into 5-6 sizes to simulate final bagged sizes. This allows for an estimated sizing scheme for each lot for sales availability. Quality testing at this point includes warm germination, cold vigor, trait testing (CB, CRW, RR, CL, LL, WX, etc.). All bulk samples are also tested for the absence of Starlink. All food grade hybrids are tested for GMO presence using PCR technology.

Genetic purity testing begins also with the hand-screened sheller sample.

Each size is packeted for planting in Puerto Rico for winter field growout readings preformed in January. Any field that is known to have a potential genetic problem is also tested using seedling growouts (greenhouse growth) and electrophoresis (genetic finger-printing) to compare to field growouts.

After final bagging of the new crop, each final bagged lot undergoes another testing regiment including warm germination, cold vigor, mechanical purity, trait testing (CB, CRW, RR, CL, LL WX, etc.), seed count, etc. An Official Warm Test for Seed Tagging regulations is preformed in Nov. or Dec. according to the seed tag testing date. The cold vigor is retested on many lots again in the spring to assure seed vigor for spring planting.

Warm Germination: AOSA Rules for Testing Seed is used for all germination criteria. 400 seeds are planted on a tray of Kimpak and watered. The tray is placed in an enclosed cart and placed in the germination chamber under ideal conditions for seven days @ 25 degrees C. (78 degrees F.). The number of normal developed seedlings is evaluated according to the AOSA rules.

Cold Vigor: 200 seeds are planted of each lot on a Kimpak tray then covered with non-sterile sandy-loam soil and watered to saturation. The tray is then placed in a germination cart and moved to the cold chamber set at 10 degrees C. (50 degrees F.) for seven days. At this point the seed will swell and take up moisture, but will not emerge due to the cold temperature. The cart is then moved to the warm chamber for four day @ 25 degrees C. to allow the seedling optimum growth and see what damage was done by the cold wet spring simulation. There is not a standard way of running a cold vigor test. Some labs use seven days in cold temperatures then seven days in warm, but this allows the weak seedlings to growth and be counted as normal. Some labs also use a sterile soil media, but this does not allow for bacterial effects to the seed during the testing time.

Mechanical Purity: A 500 – 1000 gram sample of each lot is visually inspected for presence of inert matter. Inert matter is anything that is half a seed or less which includes dust, seed chipped, etc. This can not be more than 0.5% as stated on the tag.

Trait Testing: RR, LL, and CL, are all tested using herbicide bio-assays. Four hundred seeds are planted on a tray of Kimpak as in the warm germination test. Instead of using water, the tray is sprayed with the herbicide. The seed must grow in the herbicide solution.

CB and CRW traits are tested using the ELISA plate test. This test shows if the protein associated with the trait gene is present in the seedling tissue.