Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region III
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF ZAMBALES
Zone 6, Iba, Zambales
Tel./Fax No. (047) 602 1391
E-mail Address: zambales@deped.gov.ph
website: www.depedzambales.ph

Name: ______________________________________ Grade/Section___________

School: _____________________________________ Date: ___________________

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

Agri-Fishery Arts 11
Agricultural Crops Production NC II

I. Introduction

A seed is a fertilized and ripened ovule with a small embryonic plant,

usually with some stored food and a protective coat. A seed may sometimes
use as a propagation unit and is the basic input for vegetable production.
Being a basic vegetable production input, its quality should be able to
maintain to have a successful and sustainable vegetable production endeavor.
With the use of good quality seeds, one gets better results with less effort and
expense.

II. Learning Competency

Select quality seed and seed testing
Week/480 minutes/

III. Objectives
At the end of this learning activity sheet, you should be able to:
1. secure and select quality seeds;
2. determine the percentage of germination of seeds; and
3. appreciate the importance of seed selection.

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IV. Discussion

Securing Seeds
a. Seeds can be bought from seed stores or from reliable seed producers.
b. Seeds can also produce by your own.

Advantages of Producing own Seeds

 Supply of seeds is always made available.
 Higher percentage of germination is assured.
 Improvement of quality and quantity of the yield is possible.

Disadvantages of Producing own Seeds

 Seed growing is an exacting work.
 It competes with the normal work in the nursery.
 It calls for knowledge of the principles of plant breeding.
 It calls for keen observation.
 It requires close application of details.

Characteristics of Good Quality Seeds

a. Damage free – seeds that do not possess cracks, holes and are not
broken.
b. True-to-Type – seeds that carry the desirable characteristics of the
parents.
c. Viable – seeds that germinate and continue the growth and development
until the reserved food has been consumed by the young plant.
d. Free from mixture – seeds that are free from weed seeds and other
foreign matters.
e. Free from seed borne diseases – there is no presence of any disease.
f. Properly developed – seeds are large, plump, and well developed. The
size of seeds depends upon the amount of food stored in it.

After selecting seeds, it must also be tested to determine the viability of

the seeds. Seed testing is done to ensure that grower will not entail losses
in agricultural inputs, time and energy.

Purposes of Seed Testing

 Discover whether or not the seed is true to its name, except as to variety.
 Ascertain whether or not it has been intentionally adulterated.
 Remove the relative proportions of inert material and of foreign seed.
 Disclose the presence of noxious or other weed seeds.
 Find out the percentage of seed germination

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  Find out the amount of seeds needed to plant in a given area.
 Economize labor and expenses in re-planting.
 Obtain a uniform stand of crops.

Methods of Seed Testing

1. Floating in water - submerge the seeds in a container of water to test
the seeds. All floating seeds are thrown away for they are empty and are
not going to germinate.
2. Breaking the seed coat - this method is practiced to seeds that have
hard seed coat.
3. Winnowing – seeds are placed in a shallow woven basket or “bilao” to
winnow the seeds. All seeds that are blown away or carried away by
the wind are empty and seeds remain in “bilao” are good seeds.
4. Germinating the seeds using the following methods:
a. rag doll
b. seed box
c. petri dish/plate

Seed Germination
The development of the seed into a young plant.

Types of Germination
1. Epigeal germination – where the cotyledons are lifted above the ground.
Example: bean, soybean, cowpea, cabbage pepper, tomato, onion
2. Hypogeal germination – where the cotyledons remain below the soil
surface. Example: sweet corn

Why do some seeds fail to germinate?

The following maybe the reasons according to Calacala (1977)
 The seeds are in their dormant stage.
 The seed coat is thick and hard.
 The seeds are immature.
 The seeds have dead embryo.
 The ground is too dry
 The weather is too cold

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Seed dormancy – a period in which a plant has no active growth in response
to harsh environmental conditions. It also refers to the rest period of seeds.
Rag Doll Method
1. Prepare a clean rag measuring 8 X 12 inches and a stick 8–10 inches
long.
2. Prepare at least 100 seeds for testing. Do not select.
3. Lay the rag on any flat surface and distribute the seeds evenly in rows on
the rag.
4. Roll the rag around the stick for support. Moisten the cloth and place it in
a warm –moist place.
5. Unroll the rag 5 days after. Determine the percentage germination.

Seed Box Method

If you opt to use the seed box method, do the following steps:
1. Prepare a small seed box and fill it with sterilized soil.
2. Get 100 – 150 seeds (depending on your choice) at random. Sow the seeds
in rows in the seed box. Cover the seeds lightly with soil. Water the seeds
occasionally.
3. When seeds have germinated, determine the percentage germination.

Petri Dish Method

1. Take seeds at random. Discard all unfilled seeds. Count four lots of
exactly 100 seeds.
2. Place a piece of filter paper or tissue paper in a dish. Use only the bottom
of the petri dish.
3. Moisten the filter paper. Add just enough clean water to cover the filter
paper (too much water will cause the seeds to float).
4. Place the seeds on the filter paper or tissue paper. Evenly distribute 100

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 seeds on the filter paper in each dish. Placing too many seeds in one
place tends to complicate subsequent counting of germinated seeds. Do
not add water immediately after placing seeds on the filter paper or tissue
paper because water drops may displace the seeds and group them in
clusters.
5. Cover the petri dishes.
6. After 4 or 5 days, count the number of seeds that have shoots and roots.
All shoots must be longer than 1 cm. If they are not, seed viability may
have been damaged.
7. Determine the percentage germination.

Determining the Percentage of Germination of Seeds

Below are the rules in computing the % of germination of seeds

Rule 1: If you test 100 seeds, the number of seeds germinated equals the
percentage germination of the seeds.

Example: You tested 100 seeds of eggplant using the rag doll method, 85
seeds germinated. The % of germination of the seeds then is 85%.

Rule 2. If you test less than or more than 100 seeds use the formula below
in computing the % of germination of the seeds.

Example: Mr. Aganon tested 125 seeds of hybrid tomato and 105
germinated. What is the % of germination of the tomato seeds?

No.of seeds germinated

% germination = x 100
No.of seeds tested

105
= x 100
125

10,500
=
125

= 84 %

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Rule 3. If you found out that the % of germination of your seeds is below 80,
you need to adjust your seed bulk. Use the formula below in adjusting the
seed bulk.

Amount of seeds needed

Adjusted amount of seed = x 100
% germination

Example: You needed 200 seedlings to plant your garden. You found out
that your seeds have only 75 % germination. How many seeds will you sow?

Let: X = the number of seeds to sow or your adjusted seeds

200
X = x 100
75

20,000
= 75

= 266.6 or 267 seeds

V. ACTIVITIES
A. You have learned the different characteristics of a good quality seeds. With
the use of bubble map, write the effect of planting quality seeds.

Effect of Planting
Quality Seeds

B. Let us test your mathematical ability. Compute for the germination

percentage of the following.

Mr. Aganon tested 175 seeds of eggplant, which he took from

Department of Agriculture. He found out that only 125 seeds germinated.
What is the percentage germination of the eggplant seeds? Is there a need
for Mr. Aganon to adjust his seeds to sow? Why? Why not? If there is a

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 need to adjust, then compute for the adjusted of seeds he will sow to meet
the 175 seedlings that he needs in his garden.

C. Get a bulk of seeds (any seeds may be used) for you to perform seed
selection. (Provide pictures for documentation)

Separate the seeds having the following characteristics:

 Seeds which are plump and mature

 Seeds with holes
 Seeds with cracks
 Insect infested seeds
 Disease infected seeds
 Seeds which are wrinkled and immature

Use the following criteria below to guide you in doing the activity.

Criteria Score
Excellent Very Good Fair Poor
4 3 2 1
Knowledge
Follow instruction
Timeliness

D. Choose a dicot and a monocot seed to represent epigeal and hypogeal

germination, respectively. Germinate these seeds in moist tissue paper
inside a beaker or any similar container. Observe the germination pattern
of these seeds everyday for one week. Make illustrations of your day-to-day
observations. Measure the shoot and root length. Write your observation
on a bond paper. (Provide pictures for documentation)

Use the following criteria below to guide you in doing the activity.

Rating
Criteria
20 15 10 5
Ability to follow instructions
Organized, complete and accurate report
Timeliness

Interpretation of Scores:

16-20 - Very good

11-15 - Good
6- 10 - Fair
5 and below - Poor
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E. Prepare the following and perform the rag doll method of testing the
viability of seeds.

a. 8 x 12 inches rag
b. 100 seeds of any vegetable seeds or any available seeds in your
home or locality
c. 10 inch stick
d. water

After 5 days, open your rag doll and solve for the percent germination of
your tested seeds. Write down the result on a bond paper. (Provide
pictures for documentation)

Use the following criteria below to guide you in doing the activity.

Rating
Criteria
20 15 10 5
Ability to follow correct procedures
Organized, complete and accurate report
Timeliness

Interpretation of Scores:

16-20 - Very good

11-15 - Good
6- 10 - Fair
5 and below - Poor

VI. ASSESSMENT

A. Filling the blanks. Fill in the blanks by writing a word or group of words to
complete the sentence. Write your answers in your quiz notebook.

1. The fertilized and ripened ovule which may develop into a young plant is
_____________________.

2. ____________refers to the rest period of seeds.

3. The operation involved whether or not the seeds are viable, clean, free from
diseases and mixture refers to ___________________.

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4. An immature plant inside the seed which consists of the radicle and the
plumule is ________________.
5. In germination, the ________________ is the first one to come out in the seed
when planted in the soil.

B. Modified true or false. Write true if the statement is correct and if it is

wrong, change the underlined word or group of words to make the
statement correct.

1. Farmers can plant only seeds purchased from reliable seed stores.

2. Good quality seeds are those that are not viable, clean, true-to-type and
free from seed borne diseases.

3. Seed treatment is performed to determine the viability, cleanliness and the

percentage of germination of the seeds.
4. Seeds fail to germinate if these are immature.

5. All floating seeds in a container of water are not viable seeds.

VII. REFLECTION
Based on our lesson, we learned that selecting good quality seeds and
seed testing play very important role in crop production. In the box below,
write your new learning and realization in order to maintain the quality of
seeds at the highest possible level to have a successful and sustainable crop
production endeavor.

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VIII. REFERENCES
Horticulture CBLM

https://www.plantscience4u.com/2014/08/types-of-seed-germination-
epigeal-and.html

http://books.irri.org/9711040727_content.pdf

https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/technical-
documents/articles/biology/performance-evaluation-of-whatman-
germination-paper.html

Prepared by:

JOSEPHINE N. SALES
Teacher II
San Miguel National High School

San Antonio District

"For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely

undone. The shell cracks, its inside come out and everything changes. To
someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete
destruction.”

Cynthia Occelli

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 ANSWER KEY

Activities

A. The following are the possible answers. (Answers may vary)

1. Successful vegetable crop production.

2. Increases the probability of obtaining desired plant population.
3. Attain quantity and quality harvest.
4. Economize time, labor, and expenses.

No.of seeds germinated

B. % germination = No.of seeds tested
x 100

125
= x 100
175

12,500
=
175

= 71.43 %
The percentage of germination is below 80%, Mr. Aganon need to
adjust the seeds to be sown.

Amount of seeds needed

Adjusted amount of seed = x 100
% germination

175
= x 100
71.43

17,500
= 71.43

= 244.99 or 245 seeds

Assessment

A. 1. seed B. 1. not only

2. Dorman seed 2. are
3. seed testing 3. seed testing
4. embryo 4. true
5. root or radical 5. true

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