State's seed lab grows along with the industry

Wyoming

No tremors shake the fingertips of Denny Hall as he manipulates slender silver tools while examining grass seed in a dish under a magnifying scope.

The lights are off and it's quiet in the lab room at the Denny J. Smith Memorial Seed Analysis Laboratory at the University of Wyoming Powell Research and Extension Center. As if performing an autopsy, Hall gently peels away the seed's outer layers to reveal innards that are red.

A registered seed technician in the lab, Hall is testing for seed viability using a tetrazolium test.

Red is good.

"Tetrazolium is a quick viability test," explained Gil Waibel, seed lab director. "Living tissue respires and reacts with the tetrazolium compound. As the tissue respires, the tetrazolium solution reacts with living, breathing tissue and stains it red. It tells us whether the seed will produce a plant or not."

There have been a lot of tests lately at the seed lab.

In the last three years since being moved from near Cheyenne to Powell, tests at the lab increased from 1,590 to 4,428. Revenues from tests have burgeoned from $29,000 to $90,000 last year. Revenues are put into the state's general fund.

The lab is funded by the Wyoming Department of Agriculture and is operated and administered by the University of Wyoming. Moving the lab across the state to Powell put it in the heart of the Wyoming seed industry.

"With 90 percent of the seed production in this corner of the state, it didn't make sense to have it where 10 percent of the production was happening," Waibel said.

Ample water via canals, a dry climate that discourages disease development, and mountains forming a natural barrier to diseases create a seed production haven. The lab is named after the late Denny J. Smith, a former state representative and seed producer from Powell. Smith and his replacement, Alan Jones, also of Powell, are credited with securing state funds for the facility.

With Heart Mountain looming in the distance, microclimates help growers produce a variety of seeds.

Waibel expects lab activity to increase, and an 18-foot addition to the building could be completed this year. The addition will provide an area for seed storage, planting and evaluation stations and a walk-in germinator designed for beans and wheat--a nursery of sorts.

"The seed industry in the state is growing," said Waibel. "The lab is part of the infrastructure enabling our industry to grow."

The extra space will help the lab keep up with testing and increase efficiency, said Waibel. "It's very important to the bean industry to get the results quickly. Growers don't get paid until the bean seed companies get the test results."

After the lab's move, Waibel made sure out-of-state producers, who make up the bulk of the lab's demand, and in-state producers knew the seed lab was in business. The lab had stopped tests for out-of-state producers when at Cheyenne. After its move to Powell, Waibel put out the word and even visited customers personally to help build business.

Every lab has the same rules to test by; the Wyoming lab tries to differentiate itself from other labs by its service. The seed companies know their samples aren't sitting on shelves, Waibel said, and, if there is a problem with a seed sample, the lab will let the client know before they receive the test results.

"It shows we care about our customers and their seed quality," said Waibel.

The lab also provides support for research and is providing seed testing for a study looking at how soil fertility affects seed production and quality. Growers want to know how to produce a high quality product and more of it, he said.

The lab provides both service and regulatory testing. It determines seed purity--how much pure seed, other crop seed, weed seed and inert matter--is in a sample for labeling information. Noxious weeds are identified and germination rates determined.

Under its regulatory mandate, samples obtained by the Wyoming Department of Agriculture from stores and seed companies are tested in the seed lab. The sample results are then compared against label information.

If there is a problem, the Wyoming Department of Agriculture issues a notice of alleged violation and pulls the product from the vendor's shelves.

"Most of the time the seed industry is quite honest," said Waibel. "There are always a few, but I enjoy working with most of them. They want to sell a quality product."

Date: 8/23/06

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