Assessment of Quality of Farm Saved Paddy Seeds Collected from Cauvery Delta Region

Paddy is cultivated on a large scale in Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu. Due to non-availability of adequate quantity of certified seeds at their village level most of the farmers of this region using their farm saved seeds to raise the next season crop. In order to know the quality of farm-saved paddy seeds of delta region, a total of 20 seed samples from 17 distinct varieties were collected from various villages in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu during Rural Agricultural Work Experience programme. The samples were subjected to physical and physiological seed quality parameters evaluation at Seed Science and Technology laboratory of Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Thiruchirappalli. Only 15% of samples such as Seeraga samba, Karuppukavuni and RNR 1548 alone showed 80% seed germination. The average germination percent was 50.05. Based on our observations, farmers of this region store their seeds in gunny bags without proper drying and not following any pre-storage seed treatment to protect the seeds against storage pathogens and insects.  Hence, awareness should be made among the farmers of this region regarding post harvest handling and management of farm produce harvested and stored for seed purpose. The government of Tamil Nadu should educate farmers about post-harvest handling of seeds through the Department of Agriculture to increase productivity and production of our country.