History of Seed Testing
Centennial - The 1st International Conference for Seed Testing 1906 in Hamburg, Germany
In 1869 Friedrich Nobbe published his "Statute concerning the Control of Agricultural Seeds" and founded the first seed testing laboratory of the world in Tharandt, Saxony. This was the beginning of a rapid and broad development. Already in 1875 the "First Assembly of the Directors of Seed Testing Stations and of other Persons Interested in this Matter" took place in Graz, Austria, with 31 participants from Central-European countries. At that time there were 12 seed testing stations in Germany, 2 each in Austria-Hungary and Belgium and 1 each in Denmark, Russia and the United States. In 1876 Nobbe published his famous "Handbook on Seed Testing" presenting among others the seed testing methods which he had proposed and discussed and which were recommended for standard use in Graz. In a follow-up meeting in Hamburg in 1876 the motto ”Uniformity in Seed Testing” was coined, later becoming the logo of ISTA. In 1877 Nobbe started the first comparative test with Poa pratensis L. germination determination. As a consequence of these activities and of the actual need of seed testing, only in the years 1876/77 more than 20 new seed testing laboratories were founded. In 1896, a good quarter of a century after Nobbe’s initiation, Rostrup in Copenhagen discovered a total of 119 seed testing laboratories in 19 countries. At that time, Möller-Holst in Copenhagen, Stebler in Zürich, Eidam in Breslau, Kirchner and Michalowski in Hohenheim, Rodewald in Kiel, v. Weinzierl in Vienna and Wittmack in Berlin were esteemed as pioneers of seed testing.
At the II. International Botanical Congress 1905 in Vienna, v. Weinzierl invited to a meeting of agricultural botanists. Just 30 years after the meeting at Graz the discussion was resumed to aim at internationally approved methods and standards for seed testing and, as the case may be, to initiate uniform application.
Subjects of discussion were "Testing of Sugar Beet Seed", "The Weight Method in Germination Determination", "Organisational Questions of Seed Testing" and “Cereal Seed Testing and Cereal Breeding”. Other Congress activities prevented more detailed reviewing of these topics. Hence, it was resolved to convene for a specific International Conference for Seed Testing in Autumn 1906 in Hamburg in connection with the Meeting of the Association of Applied Botany. For preparing this Conference, a committee was formed consisting of: Mr. E. Brown, Botanist in Charge U. S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D. C., F. F. Bruijning, jr., Director of the Rijksproefstation voor Zaadcontrôle in Wageningen, Administrative Council Dr. L. Hiltner, Director of the Agrikulturbotanischen Anstalt in Munich, Prof. Dr. A. Voigt, Head of the Abteilung für Samenkontrolle an den Botanischen Staatsinstituten in Hamburg and Aulic Council Dr. Th. Ritter von Weinzierl, Director of the K. K. Land¬wirtschaftlich-botanischen Versuchs- und Samenkontrollstation in Vienna. Bruijning jr. was appointed as Chairman and Voigt as Executive Secretary.
Primarily, the tasks of the projected Conference should be the following ones: "I. The already existing relations between the institutions of individual states should be improved and extended for the benefit of the international seed trade as well as the agricultural producers and consumers, and II. By discussing the scientific basis of the work of the seed testing laboratories becoming year by year more important, to reach step by step uniform basic principles concerning the methods and standards in seed testing."
Voigt invited about 150 persons covering practically the total field of seed science, technology and trade of that time. 25 of them promised to participate, 25 announced likely participation, 70 felt sorry not being in the position to participate, the rest did not respond. Under those deeply regretting not being able to attend was Privy Council Prof. Dr. Friedrich Nobbe having retired from work in 1904 at the age of 74. He had held the leading position in the field for 45 years and suffered temporarily from health problems. Yet, he sent a message of compliments to the Conference which was communicated in the introductory session.
Following, the list of the 35 participants with their places of work is shown as it is presented in the Proceedings, because names are history. Many of the participants had gained great merit contributing to seed science and technology in the years before or were gaining great merit in the years to come and even later within ISTA. In addition, it should be noted that the political map of Central-East-Europe was very different in those days from the present situation, which gives interesting insights into relationships and developments. Some of the places had been pioneering from the beginning and are still strongholds of seed testing as e. g. Copenhagen founded in 1871, Munich 1876, Zürich 1876, Hohenheim 1878, Ørebro 1880, Vienna 1881 Budapest 1882 and Wageningen 1887. Many once famous other places were relocated or disappeared for one reason or the other as Tharandt the birthplace of seed testing.
In the sessions participated: For Denmark Director K. Dorph-Petersen - Copenhagen, Norway Director O. Qvam - Kristiania (Oslo), Sweden Director M. J. Widèn - Ørebro, Russia Prof. Dr. B. Issatschensko - St. Petersburg, Austria Aulic Council Dr. Ritter von Weinzierl - Vienna, Hungary Dr. A. von Degen - Budapest, Switzerland Director Dr. F. G. Stebler - Zürich, England Dr. Güssow of the Royal Agricultural Society - London; the Republic of Argentina had conferred procuration on Prof. Dr. A. Voigt - Hamburg. In the last moment, among others, unfortunately the representatives of the United States of America and the Netherlands, Brown and Bruijning, were prevented from participation as also Director E. Schribaux - Paris having been assigned to lecture on sugar beet seed in trade. By the way, the representative of Italy received the approval of the ministry for participation only at the last day of the Conference and two representatives of Russian-Poland had difficulties getting passports; similar problems we face sometime or other even today.
The German Agricultural Society was represented by Dr. P. Hillmann - Berlin and Prof. Dr. H. Rodewald - Kiel, the Association of Agricultural Experiment Stations in the German Empire by Privy Economy Council Prof. Dr. R. Heinrich - Rostock and Prof. Dr. W. Edler - Jena, Bavaria by Administration Council Dr. L. Hiltner - Munich, Württemberg by Prof. Dr. O. Kirchner - Hohenheim, Saxony by Dr. J. Simon - Dresden, the Association of Seed Traders of Germany by Dr. Th. Waage - Berlin, the Seed Traders of Austria by Mr. Fanta - Prague, the Society of Seed Trade Hamburg by its Chairman Mr. Blumenau and the Society of Seed Trade Stettin by Dr. Waage.
In addition, the Conference was attended by: Dr. A. Atterberg - Kalmar, Mag. sc. A. Didrichsen - Copenhagen, Privy Council Prof. Dr. O. Drude - Dresden, Dr. S. Frankfurt - Kiev, E. M. Holmes - London, Prof. Dr. T. Johnson - Dublin, O. Kambersky - Troppau, Prof. Dr. W. Krüger - Bernburg, Director L. Kühle - Gunsleben, Landtbruksinspectören A. Lyttkens - Stockholm, Director Dr. W. Raatz - Klein-Wanzleben, Dr. P. Schumann - Halle, Prof. Dr. V. Stöhr - Prerau, Dr. J. von Szyszylowicz - Lvov, Prof. Dr. J. Vañha - Brno, Director E. Vitek - Prague, Prof. Dr. E. Zacharias - Hamburg.
On Sunday 9th September 1906 in a session at 11 a. m. a steering committee of nine members set up the final schedule of the Conference. In order to render a firm basis for discussion, invited introductory lectures were arranged. In the Conference Proceedings the names of the chairs and of the participants in the respective sessions are shown as well as of the speakers in the discussions including the full texts of their comments (n. b. not Wednesday). Conference language was German.
On Monday, 10th September 1906, 10 a. m., the first session started under the chair of Zacharias - Hamburg and v. Weinzierl - Vienna with 41 attendees including some local guests. After introductory remarks by the hosts Zacharias and Voigt, the first lecture was presented by Stebler on "Provenience Determination”. Thereafter, v. Weinzierl spoke about "Quality Determination of Beta Seed". After each lecture there was an extensive discussion. The session ended a quarter past 1 p. m. Hence, the afternoon session started only half past 3 p. m. with 29 attendees and a fervent discussion raised by a proposal of v. Weinzierl of installing an "International Commission for Seed Testing". The outcome was that time was not yet ripe for this, but working towards this goal was the best of intentions. After this, Rodewald talked about “Purity Analysis in Seeds”. The discussion of this subject led to a longer, eventually unresolved contention of germination determination by weight versus by number. The session was closed at half past 6 p. m.
On Tuesday, 11th September 1906, 2 p. m., with 27 attendees the session was resumed under the chair of Hiltner - Munich with v. Degen presenting a review on “Dodder in Clover” followed by a multifaceted discussion adjourned at 6 p. m.
On Wednesday, 12th September 1906, 9 a. m. until noon, there was a session on seed testing, however, as part of the Meeting of the Association of Applied Botany. The following lectures were given by: Dr. O. Appel - Dahlem: "On the Importance of Phytopathology in Seed Testing and in Field Experiments." Director L. Kühle - Gunsleben: “On the Influence of Dehulling of Beta Seed on Germination (Mechanical Removal of the Perigon).” Prof. Dr. J. Vañha - Brno: “Quality Testing of Malting Barley”. Dr. F. Muth - Oppenheim: "The Infection of Seeds by Microorganisms in the Germination Substrate." In the afternoon the harbour facilities including the Station for Plant Protection were visited.
On Thursday, 13th September 1906, 10 a. m., under the chair of Kirchner - Hohenheim with 26 attendees the lecture and discussion on dodder was resumed. This was followed by a review by Hiltner on “Germination Determination”. No immediate discussion followed, because time was already short in view of a dinner invitation hosted by the Hamburg School Authority.
On Friday, 14th September 1906, 10 a. m., under the chair of Voigt - Hamburg with 25 attendees the session opened with the discussion of Hiltner’s review on germination testing of the day before. Thereafter, the scientific part of the Conference was closed, and a brief organisational part started. Here, the endeavour of internationalisation of seed testing - a question having been repeatedly addressed during the sessions - was discussed with a view to the kind and number of possible committees. In the end, the existing Committee for the Advancement of the Scientific Basis of Seed Testing which was formed 1905 in Vienna was approved. The following tasks were assigned to this Committee: evaluation of the results of the present Conference, implementation of the resolved surveys and organisation of a 2nd International Conference for Seed Testing. At this point Voigt referred again to a manuscript he compiled and published for the participants entitled: Technical Rules for Quality Determination of Seeds in Trade of: I. The Association of Agricultural Experiment Stations in the German Empire (L.V.S.), II. The Association of Agricultural Experiment Stations in Russian - Poland (R. P.), III. The Seed Testing Stations Established by Governmental Support of the Nordic Empires Denmark, Norway and Sweden (N. R.), and IV. The Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations (U. S. A.). The manuscript includes tables on average seed testing results from Copenhagen, the German Agricultural Society D. L. G. and the K. K. Seed Testing Station Vienna. The tables show all kinds of species, even ornamental seeds and forest tree seeds (Vienna). However, there are primarily data of clover, grass and other fodder plant seeds. It ends with a brief report on Seed Testing in Sweden by Widén. The aim of this manuscript was to show by comparison the situation in the different countries. The Session and with it the 1st International Conference was closed by Voigt at 12:30 p. m. with the expression of hope for a prosperous future. The official Conference photograph is shown by courtesy of Dr. T. Timmann, Hamburg.
The sessions were characterised by a vigorous interest in the agendas. Altogether two thirds of the participants rose to speak in the discussions. The most active speakers were v. Weinzierl, Voigt, v. Szyszylowicz, Rodewald, v. Degen, Hiltner, Edler, Hillmann and Dorph-Petersen. Albeit, it seems not meaningful to go into the contents of the lectures and discussion comments in detail, because they just account for the situation in 1906. For the appreciation and making use of this information the knowledge of the historical development in the respective fields and methods up-to Hamburg and continuative up-to date would be the sine qua non. Moreover, this would go beyond the scope of this for understandable reasons only general retrospect. However, noteworthy is that during the course of the Conference and independent of the subjects dealt with the following two general points were repeatedly brought to the attention of the audience: the need for an international regulatory and technical harmonisation together with standardisation of seed testing as well as the need for supporting basic and applied research in seed science. Both these points were later incorporated as conceptual formulations into the Constitution of ISTA.
Judged by comparison to the schedules and pragmatism of present-day ISTA Congresses, the Conference in Hamburg looks as a kind of delightful promenade exclusively of distinguished meritorious personalities. Nevertheless, at the same time it showed a very earnest and responsible tenor and conduct. Above all, however, the Hamburg Conference was the cooperative fruitful beginning of the still continuing real process of becoming international, nowadays global in seed testing.
As the mandate was, Voigt arranged a second Conference in 1910 together at Münster Westphalia and Wageningen The Netherlands. Then, after World War I a third Conference was initiated by Sir Lawrence Weaver, Director General Land Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, London, taking place at Copenhagen in 1921. Eventually, these activities led to the foundation of ISTA in 1924 in the fourth meeting in Cambridge, now called International Seed Testing Congress. Four persons having participated in the Hamburg Conference also attended the Cambridge Congress, namely Voigt, v. Degen, Issatschensko and the first and long-term President of ISTA, Dorph-Petersen.
By A. M. Steiner and M. Kruse, ISTA Members, University of Hohenheim, Germany
e-mail: steiner@pz.uni-hohenheim.de, mkruse@uni-hohenheim.de
Published in: Seed Testing International (ISTA) No. 132, 19 - 21, 2006
