Impact of processing on seed quality of soybean during storage

An experiment carried out to study the impact of seed processing on soybean seed quality during storage. From five seed lots of soybean variety JS 335, the samples were collected at four different processing points namely, before processing, after pre-seed cleaner, after seed grader and after gravity separator in a processing chain. In between seed grader and gravity separator, vertical bucket elevator was used in processing plant. The observations on different quality parameters of seeds collected from each point recorded at monthly interval showed that increased handling of soybean seed from harvest to processing resulted in damage to seed. The quality parameters, germination, seedling length, dry matter content and vigour index-I were higher in preprocessing samples followed by seeds collected after pre-cleaner. The seeds collected at the end of processing chain (after gravity separator) deteriorated rapidly.