INIA Barinas Seed Quality Control Laboratory

Abstract

In all crops, it is essential to take into account the quality of the seeds, since they are the starting material for the propagation of the species; Furthermore, it is essential that they show good responses under sowing conditions and that they produce vigorous seedlings, in order to achieve the maximum desired yield. Quality can be seen as a search for desirable attributes, which will determine good performance during sowing, which is why Seed Quality Control Laboratories are essential to determine that the seed lots meet the minimum quality requirements. before taking them to the field.

Due to the aforementioned, for the year 1979, the need arises to establish specialized laboratories in soil analysis and quality control of seeds, as a result of institutional linkage (Government of the Barinas state, Ministry of Agriculture and Breeding and the National Research Fund Agropecuarias), with the producer sector. In October 1983, together with the inauguration of the Barinas Experimental Station, the creation of the laboratories was consolidated. Today, with more than 31 years in the region, they continue to serve producers, cooperators, private companies, students, technicians, researchers, among others.

In the search to improve the service to users, for the year 2005, at the national level, the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA), with financial support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), began the execution of the project “Development and Implementation of a Laboratory Quality Management System (SGCL INIA), under the ISO / IEC 17025: 2005 standard, referring to the General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories, in order to accredit 15 test areas for the Soil Laboratory and 10 test areas for the Seed Quality Control Laboratory, establishing as pioneers in this accreditation, the laboratories of the INIA Research Centers, in Barinas and Guárico.

The INIA-Barinas Seed Quality Control Laboratory provides the service to producers in the state, being the municipalities with the highest demand: Barinas, Bishops and Ezequiel Zamora; In addition, it has the ability to provide the service, in an efficient and timely manner, to producers in nearby states, such as: Apure, Portuguesa and, in special cases, the state of Aragua.

To learn about and access the service of the Seed Quality Laboratory, users who require it, can go to the INIA-Barinas headquarters, located on the shores of the highway via Barinas - Torunos, at kilometer 10 of the Irrigation System of the Santo Domingo River. They will be attended by the user service staff or by the Laboratory manager. The results of the analyzes establish the physical, physiological and sanitary parameters necessary for the producer, according to the results issued, to make the decision to start or not to plant the crop.

The INIA and the Seed Quality Control Service Laboratory guarantee the performance of analyzes and / or tests demanded by users, so we are a Laboratory with technical competence, capable of providing technically valid results at the national level. For this, the laboratory is governed by a Quality Management System for the Soil-Plant and Nutrition Laboratories and the Seed Quality Control Laboratory.