Drying and sorting of seed parent cobs

The most inexpensive method of cobs drying is sun drying. The drying of the cobs should not be done either on the kuccha or pucca flour, rather it should be dried on tarpoline sheets to avoid seed injury and during night the cobs should be kept covered. To maintain the purity, dissimilar, diseased and pest infested cobs should be removed before shelling. The female cobs should be dried upto 13-14% moisture content before shelling.  

Shelling

Shelling cobs at higher seed moisture level should be avoided because it will lead to seed injury which may cause damage to embryonic part of the seed resulting in abnormal seedling or quick loss of viability during storage. Shelling of female parent should be done earlier than male to avoid mechanical mixture. Shelling can be done manually or by power operated maize Sheller.  

Seed procesisng:

The processing should be undertaken when seed has been well dried. All under sized broken, damaged and other malformed seeds should be removed for maintaining the quality of seed. It can be done in seed processing plant (Photo 32 to 34).

                 Photo 32.  Seed processing unit                           Photo 33. Feed hopper                                   Photo 34.  Seed grader

Storage and marketing

Seed drying should be done till the moisture content of the seed is reduced to 8% and it should be kept in aerated jute bags. Seed should be stored at cool and dry place preferably in cold storage. The process of seed aging can be slowed down to retain seed germination and vigour by providing conducive storage conditions. Marketing should be done with specification and standards.