Question

Sanjana was given a sample of wheat seeds. How will you select good, healthy seeds for sowing?

Answer 1

Hint:- Seeds become unhealthy when they are acted upon by pests or damaged by diseases while good and healthy seeds are free from infections and diseases. To select good and healthy seeds from a given sample, the given sample of seeds must be poured into a bucket full of water to examine whether the seeds float or sink in water.

Complete Answer:- Good and healthy seeds are clean and free from infections and diseases. These seeds will result in a high yield of food grains. To select good, healthy seeds for sowing from a given sample of wheat seeds, Sanjana must pour all the wheat seeds into a bucket containing water. After pouring, the water containing seeds must be stirred well and seeds must be left for 2-3 hours in water. Sanjana will observe that some seeds settled down at the bottom of the bucket while some seeds were seen floating on the surface of the water. With this experiment, Sanjana can conclude that seeds which sink at the bottom of the bucket are good and healthy as they are heavy while the poor and unhealthy seeds float on the surface of the water as they are light in weight because these seeds were partially eaten by pests or damaged by disease making them hollow and light, thus they will float on the surface of the water.

Note:- Good quality seeds must be genetically pure and free from infections and diseases. These are the seeds that will be able to germinate in normal environmental conditions that will result in a higher yield of good quality crops.