Seed treatment is an area of agriculture filled with rapidly evolving technologies, that at times can feel overwhelming and difficult to understand. The term “Seed Treatment” or “Treated Seed” gets used every day in agriculture, and they really do an inadequate job describing what products and technologies were applied to that seed. To make matters even more complicated, the visual appearance of seed tells you almost nothing about what was actually applied on that seed to bring value. This is why working with a reputable company and seed dealer is of the utmost importance.
Let’s get back to the basics and start with a good definition. A seed treatment is any additional material added to a seed that is designed to protect or enhance the natural functions or handling of that seed. The most common treatments applied to agricultural seeds are chemical protectants (usually fungicides, insecticides, or nematicides), live biological organisms (like Rhizobia or Trichoderma inoculants), biological compounds (compounds that promote native soil microbes), plant growth regulators (plant hormones), nutritional products (fertilizers), colorants, polymers, and slicking plantability agents. The quality of a seed treatment is usually judged visually (colorant, polymer, and plantability agent), but the agronomic and economic benefit to the grower generally come from the other protectants and enhancements since these are not visible to the naked eye.
Now that we have a framing on what a seed treatment is and can be, let’s look at a very common situation that provides strong economic returns in soybean production. For full yield potential, soybeans need to capture 100% of the solar energy from the sun by the summer solstice when they want to enter their reproductive phase. The more branches, nodes, and vegetative growth they have before the summer solstice, the more sites on the plant to produce flowers and pods. In agriculture, we have a few challenges from the environment and pathogens while trying to accomplish this. The three biggest yield robbing pathogens in US soybean production in order of damage are: Soybean Cyst Nematode, Sudden Death Syndrome, and Seedling Diseases (phytophthora, pythium, etc.) and they intertwine with the cool damp environments we plant soybean seeds into in the pursuit of maximum yield.
As we shift our soybean planting window earlier, seeds and seedlings are exposed to cooler damp soils (which are favored by pathogens) for longer periods of time. Seedling diseases thrive in these environments and so does Fusarium, the pathogen that causes Sudden Death Syndrome. We also have soybean roots growing in the soil for an additional month, which can host the first generation of Soybean Cyst Nematode earlier in the season allowing total numbers to build up to higher levels by the end of the season. The cooler soils also delay soybeans being colonized by Rhizobia (nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil), which means their growth is even slower. We have the technology and products today to treat soybean seed with fungicides to prevent seedling diseases, insecticides to prevent early insect feeding, special SDHI fungicides that protect against Sudden Death Syndrome and control those first generations of Soybean Cyst Nematode and inoculate seeds with elite strains of Rhizobia that colonize soybean roots earlier in cooler soils. We have the ability to remove all of those challenges and stresses from our crops so our cutting-edge genetics can do what they do best - grow more yield.
If you have any more questions about what seed treatments are right for your operation, please reach out to your local FS Crop Specialist.
Jason Boehler, GROWMARK Seed Treatment Product Manager