India is the second-largest producer of fresh fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, due to the lack of knowledge and facility, the country ends up wasting almost 16% of the fruits and vegetables each year. Not only this but up to 10% of the oil seeds, pulses and cereals that are grown in India are also completely wasted.

Storing the vegetable seeds under the right conditions will help extend their life by 10 years or maybe even more. It is the moisture in the seed and storage temperature that determines how long the seed can be stored.

It is important to keep in mind that, before storing the vegetable seed, it is properly treated and also ensure that longevity is not affected by the product with which the seed will be treated. It is vital that the packaging of the seed is done properly making sure that the seed does not absorb any moisture. The package should be chosen in such a manner that seeds of each species should be stored with the respective proper moisture content. People usually consider plastic bags as harmful and choose to avoid it, in this scenario plastic bags are not an enemy in this type of storage, but one needs to be careful so that no moisture is trapped inside the bag. Make sure that all the air is pressed out and it’s completely closed.

Below are a few factors to be kept in mind while storing vegetable seeds:

• Seed Viability:- Most vegetable seeds remain good for about two to three years, on the other hand, seeds such as onion seeds, deteriorate within a year and others such as lettuce can effectively sprout even after five years. Inheritance of seed, longevity is not limited to the species but also cultivars. It is important to harvest mature relatively dry seeds or to reduce the moisture content of freshly harvested seed soon after harvest.
• Storage condition:- The storage requirements for the maintenance of viability vary for a different type of seed. Storage temperature and seed moisture content are the two storage condition both relative humidity and temperature are kept low of the two seed moisture content is relatively more than temperature. Temperature also plays an important role in of seed although it does not appear to be controlled with a normal range of biological activity of seed, insect and mould increase as temperature increase
• Storage container:- A storing of seeds in the containers made up of suitable packing material will prevent the direct contact of seed with the storage environment and this is another approach for retaining viability. The packaging materials used are paper, cotton, metal, plastic, glass and laminated foil. These are selected according to kind and amount of seeds to be packed, during of storage etc.
• Changes in seeds during storage:- Physiological manifestation of seed deterioration are changed in seed colour, delayed germination, decreased tolerance to suboptimal environmental conditions during germination and storage conditions, reduced germination and seeding growth and increased number of seedlings. Biochemical changes include:

1. Increase or decrease in enzyme activity
2. Decrease in oxygen uptake
3. Increase in leaching of organic and inorganic constituents from seed
4. Increase in free fatty acid
5. Increase in reducing sugar and decrease in total soluble sugar
6. Decrease in protein and increase in amino acid
7. Changes in carbohydrate, organic acid and protein metabolism.

Correctly storing seeds can be a tricky task. But there is nothing to worry as we, at Gubba Cold Storage, specialize in creating an efficient atmosphere for retaining the vitality of vegetable seeds.