ONION (Allium cepa L.)

I. Application and Amplification of General Seed Certification Standards

             The General Seed Certification Standards are basic and, together with the following specific standards 

constitute the standards for certification of onion seed.

II. Land requirements

        Land to be used for seed production of onion seed shall be free of volunteer plants.

III. Field Inspection

    A. Mother bulb production stage        

    A minimum of two inspections shall be made as follows;

        1. the first inspection shall be made after transplanting of seedlings in order to determine isolation, volunteer plants

            offtypes including bottlers and other relevant factors.

        2. the second inspection shall be made after the bulbs have been lifted to verify the true characteristics of bulbs.

    B. Seed production stage 

        A minimum of four inspections shall be made as follows;

        1. the first inspection shall be made before flowering  in order to determine isolation, volunteer plants

            offtypes including bottlers  and other relevant factors.

        2. the second and third inspections shall be made during flowering to check isoltation, offtypes and 

            other relevant factors,

        3. the fourth inspection shal be made at maturity to verify the true nature of plant and other relevant factors.

IV. Field Standards

A. General requirements

1. Isolation

        Onion seed fields  shall be isolated from the contaminants shown in the column1of the Table below

 by the distances specified in columns 2, 3,4 and 5 of the said Table:

        Contaminants                                                                    Minimum distance (meters)

                                                                     Mother bulb production         Seed production stage

                                                                                  stage

                                                                    Foundation        Certified      Foundation   Certified

                1.                                                    2.                        3.                 4.            5                                                                          

Fields of other varieties                                     5                       5               1000         500                                                                                    

Fields of the same variety not conforming to 

varietal purity requirements for certification           5                       5               1000       500                           

B. Specific requirements

        Factor                                                                                              Maximum permitted (%)*

                                                                                                                Foundation          Certified

*Bulbs not conforming to the varietal characteristics                  0.10 %              0.20 %

                                                                                            (by number)     (by number)

      ** Offtypes                                                                                            0.10 %                   0.20%     

* Maximum permitted at second inspection at mother bulb production stage

**Maximum permitted at and after flowering at seed production stage

V. Seed standards

        Factor                                                                               Standards for each class

                                                                                             Foundation            Certified

Pure seed (minimum)                                                               98.0%                   98.0%

Inert matter (maximum)                                                            2.0%                     2.0%

Other crop seeds (maximum)                                                   5/kg                      10/kg

Weed seeds (maximum)                                                           5/kg                      10/kg

Germination  (minimum)                                                           70%                      70%

Moisture (maximum)                                                                8.0%                     8.0%

For vapour-proof containers (maximum)                                  6.0%                      6.0%