Seed processing
Recovered plant material needs processing to remove the seed from its fruit, and remove unwanted material such as leaves, sticks, and chaff. Seeds are processed in many different ways, depending on the type of fruit they’re contained in. Careful examination of collected material is undertaken prior to processing to determine if viable and healthy seed is present. Our seed is then processed to match appropriate industry purity standards. Where seed is to be used for direct seeding, lower grades may be considered to reduce cleaning time and cost.
Processing equipment
Tranen has a hot house to promote the release of seed, and a range of specialist equipment such as vacuum separators, threshers, gravity tables, mechanical screen cleaners, and hand sieves for cost-effective separation of seeds from unwanted materials.
As well as processing our own seed, we also provide contract cleaning services for others who don’t have the capacity, or equipment to do it themselves (i.e. “friends of” and community groups, etc).
Seed testing
We also provide in-house seed testing services, including:
• seed counts: the number of seeds in a representative sample.
• seed purity: the % weight of seed compared to the total weight, including chaff and other foreign matter.
• viability: the average % seeds in a representative sample actually filled with viable seed.
We provide these services for a number of industry clients. Germination testing requires specialist facilities, and if requested is normally contracted out. This type of testing is rarely requested, because of its relatively high cost.
