Seed Certification Manual - Rural Solutions SA - SA.Gov.au

South Australian Seed Certification Scheme
8.19 SUBTERRANEAN CLOVER (Trifolium subterranean)
- INDISTINGUISHABLE CULTIVARS
Cultivars eligible
All cultivars of subterranean clover except Clare, Mt
Barker and Woogenellup.
Sowing Seed
Basic seed.
AC1 seed (min. 99% cultivar purity), or
AC2 seed (min. 98% cultivar purity) which has been
produced on the same property.
Paddock History
Land must not have grown or been sown to
subterranean clover in the previous three (3) years.
Successive crops of the same cultivar and certification
class may be grown on the same area without any
time interval provided satisfactory varietal purity is
maintained.
Unsown strip
New sowings require an unsown strip of land to be left
in the crop. The unsown strip must be at least one (1)
metre in width and form a complete circuit of the
paddock approximately one third of the way into the
crop. The location of the unsown strip may be varied
where the paddock is irregular in shape, divided by
contour banks or the ground undulates.
The unsown strip may not be treated in any way which
prevents the growth of naturally occurring seedlings.
Failure to leave an unsown strip or the unauthorised
treatment of the strip may make the crop ineligible for
certification.
There is no requirement to maintain the unsown strip
in the years following the initial sowing.
Isolation
Production areas must be separated from other
cultivars of subterranean clover by at least a three (3)
metre strip (free of subterranean clover plants) or a
physical barrier such as a fence to prevent any mixture
of seed during harvest.
Inspections
Seedling inspection
Pre-harvest inspection
Number of successive harvests
A maximum of four harvests of certified seed is
permitted from Basic seed (or crops established with
AC seed). The number of generations may be
extended where the crop is likely to continue to meet
certification standards. Certification on this basis may
require an electrophoretic test, at the grower’s cost (in
addition to ordinary certification fees), to determine
cultivar purity.
Classes
C1: from new areas sown with Basic seed
C2: from crops produced in the second or
subsequent years via self seeding or by over-sowing
with Basic or Authorised Certified (AC) seed
Crop Standards
Cultivar Purity:
Basic 99.5% (minimum)
Certified 95.0% (minimum)
Seed Quality Standards
Minimum Pure Seed (% by mass) 98.0%
Minimum Germination (% by count)
70.0% (excluding hard seeds)
Maximum Other Seeds (% by mass) 0.5%
Procedures and Standards for Seed Certification
May 2002