Variability of thousand grain weights of seed batches of important arable and some horticultural crops

Abstract

The thousand grain weight (TGW) of seeds used for sowing varies because of natural mass variation within and between cultivars of a crop but also because of selection of sizes of seeds used for propagation by breeders and seed suppliers. The range of TGW data of 55 arable crops and 26 horticultural crops are presented as well as TGW data for 15 types of pelleted seeds of different crops. In addition to the mean and maximum and minimum values, different percentiles were calculated for most crops. This study presents TGW data of seed batches used for cultivar testing (most arable crops) as well as of seed lots used for seed coating with pesticides for the European market in the period of the harvesting years 2011–2018.

Keywords

• Thousand grain weight
• mean
• percentile
• variability
• seed treatment
• pesticide regulation