Seed storage conservation practices

Natural way to conserve seeds for logn time. A traditional way to protect the seeds from pests and diseases. Below are the list of Seed storage conservation practises.

• Soil application
• Mixing Green leaves
• Mixing Castor powder, chili powder, and salt
• Sand mixing
• Tallgrass tying method
• Stamping method
• Soil container protection method

1. Soil application

Mix red soil and water to form a paste in a container.
The paste prepared should be such that it sticks to the grains.
Transfer the seeds to be stored into this pot and mix well.
See that the soil completely adheres to the seeds.
Dry these seeds under shade.
Transfer these seeds into a gunny bag(Jute bag).
Mix ragi husk into this bag in a portion of 2:20 (2 kg of ragi husk for 20 kg of seeds).
Tie the bag tightly and store in dark.

2. Mixing of leaves

Select leaves having a pesticidal property like neem, Vitex nigundo, Clerodendron, etc and dry them under shade.
Mix these leaves with seeds of paddy or all types of beans or pigeon pea and fill in the bags.
Tie the bags tightly and store in dark.

3. Mixture of Castor powder, chilli powder and salt

This method is most suitable to store different varieties of beans.
Dry the bean seeds in morning sun for sometime.
Take some small quantity of castor seeds in a bowl, roast it for sometime and powder it.
Mix1/4 kg of castor powder with 1 kg bean seeds (maintain the same ratio of 0.25 : 1 for large qunatity of seeds) and store it in a mud pot.
Close the lid of the pot and seal it with cow dung to avoid aeration.

4. Stamping method or Salt and chilli powder application method

Apply 1/2 kg powdered salt and 250 gm dry chilly powder to 25 kg horse gram seeds and fill it into a 30 kg capacity plastic bag.
Tie it with a thread tightly and keep the bag near the door where people walk often.
REpeated stamping of this bag would not only avoid pest attacks but also destroys the eggs and maggots that are already present in the seeds.
This method also known as the stamping method prevents the horse gram from pest attacks and could be stored up to one year.

5. Sand mixture method

Take a 5 kg capacity mud pot.
Any variety of seeds to be stored are collected, cleaned and dried under sun and shade.
Into this pot, add a thick layer of sand at the base and spread the seeds to be stored over this sand.
Again add sand over the seeds.
Continue the same process of filling sand seed mixture layer by layer till it reaches upto the brim of the pot.
See that the upper layer is again a thick layer of sand.
Close the container with a lid and air tight it with cow dung passte.
By doing so you can store the seeds for more than a year.
There is a brief that a person who stores the seeds should only open it to obtain quality seeds.

6. Moode method

Moode is a container made of ropes of bamboo stripes, paddy straw, kodo millet straw and some fibrous weeds.
Arrange the weeds to form a basket.
The structure must be air tight with 3 1/2 feet height and 30 cm radius.
The top and base of the container are lined with ragi husk and the grain/seed to be stored are filled in.
Red chilli powder is mixed with the seeds before storage.
Close the container with bamboo lid and tighten it with bamboo straw.
This method is to store seeds and grains of pulses, cereals, oilseeds for nearly 6 to 10 months and can be considered as one of the most effective methods of conserving seeds.
However, the moode cannot be opened to monitor grains and cannot be reused for next year.

7. Cemet granary(Kanaja) or tomb method of storage

Kanaja is a surface storage device prepared from cement or mud.
In a cement granary or a mud floored storage, about 10 cm height ragi husk is spread as a basal layer.
Now fill the cement granary with ragi seeds/grains till the brim and close it with a wooden plank.
So preserved ragi seeds or grains can be stored up to 3 years.
Tomb is another storage device prepared from mud in tomb shape. Ragi or paddy seeds and grains are filled into this tomb and closed with a lid to avoid aeration and light.
This method of storage is very effective and helps farmers rescue from pest attacks to seeds or grains.
It is usually undertaken during summer in the month of March.

Source: Green foundation