b'ASSOCIATION NEWS ISTA Proficiency Test Committee Meeting Report: Standard Proficiency TestDidier Demilly1, Claudia Falch2 and Branislava Opra31Chair of Proficiency Test Committee, 2Vice-Chair of Proficiency Test Committee, 3Proficiency Test Committee ObserverDURING THE 2025 ISTA CONGRESSSharon became a PTC member in 2001, and thecertain PT rounds, and PT questions that may ORGANISED IN CHRISTCHURCH,Committee Vice-Chair in 2022. Over the years,come from the participants or from observed NEW ZEALAND, THE PROFICIENCYshe and her team have organised seven PTissues in the PT rounds.TEST COMMITTEE (PTC) presented to therounds:participants on 7 May in an open meeting and the2002 Poa pratensis We would like to acknowledge the contribution of Committee members met on 8 May. The closed2005 Cynodon dactylon the Statistics Committee Chair, Kirk Remind, and meeting was organised in a hybrid format, both2010 Festuca arundinacea Vice-Chair, Jean Louis Laffont, in:online and with physical participation, with most2016 Allium cepa developing the new heterogeneity test for PT of the members attending. 2018 Daucus carota purposes;2022 Spinacia oleracea preparing the ISTA PT presentation at the During the meetings the following topics were2024 Coriandrum sativum Statistics workshop in Saint Louis;discussed: working on a potential new rule in the New composition of Committee and farewellsSharon Davidson (USA),International Rules for Seed Testing (ISTA Rules) to departing members departing Proficiency Testfor tetrazolium tests and facilitating the analyses Committee memberRelations with ISTA Secretariat and other ISTAon tests of fewer than 400 seeds (e.g. 2100 seeds Technical Committees (TCOM) Susanne became a PTC member in 2019 whenor 450); andKey data of Proficiency Test (PT) ProgrammeDot Wittrup Petersen left the Committee.investigating the statistical issues seen in the conducted in 2024 and notable PT results Susanne and her team, as experts particularly ingermination test for the Arachis PT round and Ongoing PT Programme for 2025 grasses, organised two PTthe radicle emergence test on Triticum aestivum Development of PT Programme Plan for nextrounds: subsp. aestivum.triennium (20262028) 2020 Festuca pratensisIncreasing requirements and restrictions in2023 Trifolium hybridum In collaboration with the Chair of the safe delivery of PT samples to participants Germination Committee, David Johnston, and Future PTC plans Susanne Andersenthe Vice-Chair, Gillian Musgrove, we discussed (Denmark), anothermethods, reports and the cancellation of Changes in Proficiency Testdeparting Proficiency Testthe Arachis PT round (due to the high fungal Committee Composition Committee member development and legal restrictions in applying The PTC has 13 members in total, and each of theWe also extend our greatest thanks to the formerfungicides in many countries). Another topic of members organises at least one PT round duringExecutive Committee (ECOM) liaison officerinterest was around verifying images of normal the triennial PT Programme Plan. Members arefor the PTC, Sylvie Ducournau, for the adviceand abnormal seedlings and ungerminated from 11 countries distributed globally. This year,and support she has provided to the Committeeseeds (as defined in the ISTA Rules), which were the Committee accepted an application fromover six years. Didier Demilly is a new Member- included in the PT summary reports (Fig. 1).Claudia Falch (Klein Karoo Seed Production,at-Large of the ECOM and he became our new South Africa) to become the new Vice-Chair.ECOM liaison officer, with Ignacio Aranciaga as Two new colleagues, Carey Matthiessen (20/20the second liaison officer.Seed Labs, Canada) and Saruttaya Lapuk (East West Seed Company Ltd, Thailand) also becameCollaboration with ISTA members. Secretariat and ISTA Technical Committees Two members are leaving the PTC: SharonThe PTC intensively communicates with Davidson (Agri Seed Testing, Inc., USA) andmembers of the ISTA Secretariat, in particular Susanne Andersen (DLF Seeds A/S, Denmark).with the ISTA Accreditation and Technical We would like to extend our deepest appreciationDepartment (Branislava Opra, Standard PT for their long-standing engagement with theCoordinator; Stella Marcu, PT Administrator;Figure 1. Normal and abnormal seedlings of Committee. Our recognition also goes to theirand Florina Palada, Head of Accreditation andMatthiola longipetala from ISTA Proficiency Test laboratory team members, who have contributedTechnical Department). Together, we preparedround PT24-2significantly to the success of the PT roundsan article on 20 years of PTC history (see SeedLast year we discussed the high variability organised under Sharons and SusannesTesting International 167, p.30) and the PTCobserved in the radicle emergence test results leadership. The work behind each PT round isactivity report (see STI 168, p.45). for the PT round on Triticum aestivum subsp. tremendous and involves remarkable amounts ofaestivum, with the former Chair of the Vigour time dedicated to sample preparation, requiringThere is further strong collaboration with otherCommittee, Alison Powell. The common technical competence from each member of theTCOM Chairs, in terms of preparation of the PTconclusion after repeated tests was that the preparatory team. Programme Plan, follow-up actions needed forparticular PT had to be cancelled due to SEED TESTING INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2025 59'