Small Grain Certification Standards (Wheat, Oats, Barley, Rye and Triticale)

I.          Land Requirements

Small grains (wheat, oats, barley, rye and triticale) intended for certification shall not be grown on land which produced a small grain crop of the same kind the previous year unless the crop was from certified seed of the same variety.

One year must elapse between destruction of a stand of a variety and establishment of a stand of a specific class of a variety of the same kind. Requirement is waived if the previous crop was grown from certified seed of the same variety.

II.         Field Inspection

A field inspection will be made prior to harvest after the grain is fully headed and has assumed a mature color.

III.        Field Standards

A.        General

1.         Unit of Certification

The unit of certification shall be a field, but a portion of a field may be approved provided the discarded portion can be harvested separately and is eliminated from certification.

2.         Isolation

a.         Rye

A field producing any class of certified seed must be isolated by at least 660 feet from rye fields of any other variety of the same chromosome number or uncertified fields of the same variety.  Isolation between diploid and tetraploid rye shall be at least 15 feet.

b.         Wheat, oats, barley and triticale

Field boundaries must be clearly marked.  If boundaries are determined by means other than permanent fixtures (fences, roads, hedges, etc.), such boundary must be no less than 10 feet from a non-certified field of the same variety, another variety or other small grain.

c.         Highly cross pollinating wheat varieties

There shall be at least 50 feet of isolation for highly cross pollinating varieties of wheat and varieties of triticale from other small grains of the same kind unless it is of the same variety grown from certified seed.

B.        Special Requirements

¹Inseparable other crops shall include crop plants, the seed of which cannot be thoroughly removed by the usual methods of cleaning.  Rye in winter wheat and barley in oats are well known examples.  No rye is permitted in wheat.

²Noxious weeds, seed of which are inseparable, must be destroyed by rouging or mowing before field inspection is made.  Fields containing field bindweed shall be rejected in all cases.

IV.       Referee Sample

A representative two-pound sample of seed as it is to be sold shall be submitted to the Association for laboratory analysis.  

V.        Seed Standards

 ¹Barley, rye or triticale shall not contain more than 2 percent inert matter other than broken seed.

²See Section XLI P, also, Texas blueweed (Helianthus ciliaris), dock (Rumex spp.), hedge bindweed (Convolvulus sepium), and wild oat (Avena fatua).  One seed per pound maximum allowable for cheat (Bromus secalinus), corncockle (Agrostemma githago), wild mustard (Brassica kaber), morningglory (Ipomoea spp.), wild buckwheat (Polygonum convolvulus), horsenettle (Solanum carolinense), and jointed goatgrass (Aegilops cylindrica).

³For other small grains the maximum of 1 per pound in Foundation, 2 per pound in Registered and 5 per pound in Certified must not be exceeded. 

⁴If chemically controlled seed-borne diseases are noted upon field inspection or laboratory observation, seed treatment is required.