Amplification of General Certification Standards

The General Standards are amplified as follows to apply specifically to seeded type forage bermudagrass produced from vegetatively propagated fields. This is done in accordance with the procedure specified by the originator.

 

Only those fields planted from sprigs harvested from breeder or Foundation fields will be eligible for certification. When fields are established by vegetative propagation for reproduction, from different clones, foundation plots of each clone must be maintained and inspected to insure genetic purity. (Standards for vegetative propagation will apply). This crop is produced under a limited generation system as defined in section XLI A.

 

For a field to be eligible for certification, the grower must notify the Association in writing during the calendar year of planting or sprigging that he intends to certify subsequent crops, although he need not certify the crop the first year of any subsequent year.

 

Land Requirements

A field to be eligible for the production of Foundation seed must not have grown or been seeded to the same species during the previous five years and must have included a cultivated crop for three years.

 

A field to be eligible for the production of Certified seed must not have grown or been seeded to the same species during the previous three years and must have included a cultivated crop for two years unless the crop was the same variety and passed field inspection for certification. All fields or portions of fields intended for certification must have a definite boundary such as a fence, ditch, roadway or barren strip at least ten feet wide.

 

A field to be eligible for the production of Foundation or Certified planting stock must have been thoroughly inspected at a time prior to planting (pre-plant inspection), when objectionable plants can be determined, and must have been found to be free of (or controlled/contained) noxious weeds and other strains of the same species being planted. Further the field being inspected must not have been tilled or otherwise molested prior to the inspection in such a way as to obscure objectionable weeds.

 

Field Inspection

Each field intended for certification must be inspected prior to planting and at harvest; one additional inspection shall be made after greenup and prior to heading depending on the type being inspected. A fall inspection may be applicable if needed.

 

Field Standards

 

General Requirements

Unit of Certification

The unit of certification shall be a field, but a portion of a field may be approved provided the discarded portion can be harvested separately and is eliminated from certification.

 

Isolation

A field to be eligible for certification must be isolated from any other perennial grass, meeting isolation standards, by a barrier that will prevent encroachment or mechanical mixing during harvest.

 

* When different classes of seed of the same variety are being grown in the same or adjacent fields, the isolation requirements may be reduced to 25% of that shown in the above table.

 

Specific Requirements

 

 

Specific Seed Standards

* Seeded Forage Bermudagrass may contain up to 0.75% weed seed if the percentage greater than .25% is crabgrass.

 

Referee Sample

A representative sample of at least one-half pound as the seed is to be sold shall be submitted to the Association for laboratory analysis.