44 / SEEDWORLD.COM JANUARY 2018 IT IS VITAL that breeding and seed production programs conduct testing for adventitious presence (AP) of unwanted biotech traits. A properly timed AP test can eliminate the cost of advancing mate- rial contaminated with an unwanted bio- tech trait and provide tangible evidence of a quality seed product. There are two approaches in determin- ing AP in a seed lot based on the accept- ance criteria. Qualitative testing will be used if the acceptance criteria of lot is 0% AP. In this case, if any lot is found positive in a qualitative test, the lot will be rejected. If the acceptance criteria of a seed lot is above 0% of AP, a quantitative testing is required to determine the percentage of AP in the seed lot. Quantitative AP testing can be per- formed in a single bulk seed sample using Importance of semi Quantitative Adventitious Presence (AP) Testing JOSEPH LOPEZ PH.D EUROFINS BIO-DIAGNOSTICS (EBDI) DNA LAB MANAGER JosephLopez@eurofinsUS.com • eurofinsus.com BACK IN THE DAYS, your operator was a loyal worker who oversaw the seed treatment process and knew the art as well as their own hands. Today is different. Temporary workers are more commons and people tend to change workplace frequently. Investing in fully automatic seed treatment systems provides multiple benefits and opportunities. Let me intro- duce you to five of them. All NoroGard seed coaters with a PLC system are provided with a modem connection through mobile networks which allows you to control your seed treatment processes through your mobile device or computer. This type of record- ings and reporting shows the amount of treated seed, the dosing rates and how much product has been used as well as controlling this data. This includes the ability to build or monitor recipes remotely.  Accessing these data records provides a number of benefits includ- ing quality control, the ability to share statistics, decreased risk of human error, improved working environment and dis- tance supervision. An investment in quality control assures the same high level of qual- ity from week to week, as well as from season to season. This provides a great advantage and strength for the organiza- tion since the seed treatment processes are not depending on a single person to measure, dose and control the seed treat- ments. Furthermore, the access to reports and recordings means that demanded production or quality statistics can be shared easily with the customer. NoroGard seed coaters with this type of system also allow for the statistics and data to be supervised, controlled and shared from a distance which once again, proves a strength for the organization. Not only does the system run without a worker’s presence being vital for the production, it also minimizes the risk of human error. Because the seed treatment is controlled through the modem connec- tion, it is easy to follow already set recipes and avoid mistakes from being made. Operating your seed coating pro- cesses through a PLC system is highly beneficial for regulatory purposes. In terms of various ISO certifications, this type of supervision allows easy quality controls and trackability. In combina- tion with the closed systems that the NoroGard seed coaters are equipped with, the operator is not exposed to treat- ing liquids, physical safety is assured and the risk of human error is minimized. Reasons to Invest In a Sophisticated Seed Coater KETTY NILSSON NOROGARD PRESIDENT @NoroGardAB • Ketty@NoroGard.com • NoroGard.com real time PCR testing. In a seed lot, if the percentage of AP found is equal to or less than the acceptance limit, the lot is accepted otherwise it will be rejected. This method is not used by the indus- try widely as an error in sampling might reject a potential acceptable lot. EBDI offer a multiple sub-sample (pool) based qualitative testing to quantify the AP con- tamination in seed lot thus known as semi quantitative AP testing. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tech- nology is used in both the testing meth- ods. In the semi quantitative approach, we divide the bulk seed sample into multiple sub samples (pools), each pool will con- tain the same number of individual seeds. Pools will be subjected to end point PCR analysis and results as positive or negative pools for the presence of AP. The individ- ual results of each pool will be analyzed using a statistical tool to determine the percent of AP in the seed lot with 95% confidence level. Seed producers wanting to know the rate of AP contamination, the semi quantitative AP test provides much greater flexibility for statistical analysis to determine the possible upper bound limit of a contamination with 95% of confidence level. This information will help the customer to decide on the acceptance of the seed lot. This method reduces the risk of rejecting a good lot since a range of level of AP is accept- able in the current market. By identifying seed lots with AP contamination beyond established limits, a seed producer can avoid the cost of advancing or process- ing seed lots that are out of tolerance.