Mao Pei-sheng

Limited factors and key technologies offorage seed production in the northern of China

It is essential for forage seeds as the carrier of plant living during the regeneration of rangeland vegetation and establishment of artificial grassland. Forage seed is an important material guarantee for the success in the improvement of degradated rangeland and establishment of artificial grassland with higher productivity. It is important for seed growers to pay attention to the researches on seed production technology. In this paper, it is illustrated for the status on the new forage variety breeding and the development of seed propagation system. The limited factors including production regions, certification system, mechanization of seed harvesting and land cost in the forage seed production in the northern of China were analyzed. These factors caused to lower seed yield and higher costs, and unable to maintain higher seed quality, as lacking of the related researches, especially the requirements for the climate and the control system of variety genetic characteristics were ignored in the seed production. Furthermore, compared with key technologies of seed production such as seeding density control, irrigation and fertilization management, pollinating and harvesting, the requirements of some technological indexes were summarized and provided the foundation for the forage seed professional production. According to the development of forage seed production research and practice, the authors proposed the important fields for the developing of forage seed industry in the future and prospected the establishment of seed propagation system required for the modern seed industry.