ISTA Laboratory Karlsruhe

Since the beginning of arable farming, seeds have been a valuable and indispensable asset which has to comply with high quality requirements. To be able to meet these requirements, the so-called "Centralausschuss des landwirtschaftlichen Vereins für Baden" (central committee of the farmers' organisation for Baden) founded a seed testing station in Karlsruhe in 1872.

Today, the seed testing unit of the Agricultural Technology Centre Augustenberg (LTZ) examines all crop species – agricultural and horticultural crops as well as woody plants, flowers and medicinal plants and several wild plant species. The following testing parameters can be examined under the quality assurance system: purity, waste, germination capacity, viability, vigour, identity (also with the help of protein and DNA analyses), health, thousand grain weight, moisture, grain filling and intactness of seeds (by way of X-ray analyses and sieve sorting). The division has standard operating procedures for more than 900 seed species.

In addition to the standard testing procedures within the scope of quality tests for seed approval, the unit (particularly under the direction of Prof. Dr. N. Leist) has special competences with regard to electrophoretic variety identification and hybrid quality assessment, examination of the health status of seeds and viability determination using the topographic tetrazolium test. This specialised knowledge has not only been passed on and expanded through the active participation in and the chairmanship of many committees of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) and the Association of German Agricultural Testing and Research Institutes (VDLUFA) but also through the cooperation with universities and other committee work (e.g. the German Maize Committee).

Eighteen experts and two trainees guarantee the proper testing of the seed samples in this unit which has been accredited by ISTA since 1999. In addition, Augustenberg has been approved as forestry testing station by the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE) since 2002.

Since the days of its foundation, the area of activity of this institution has always included testing, research and consulting services, thus ensuring the production of high-quality seeds.

More Information:

Infoservice agriculture (only available in German)