Do smallholder farmer-led seed systems have the capacity to supply good-quality, fungal-free sorghum seed?

Table 2 Mean (±SE) germination, moisture content and fungal incidence levels of sorghum seeds sourced and stored under different farmer-led practices

Seed source and storage	Germination (%)	Moisture (%)	Percentage (%) incidence levels
Seed source and storage	Germination (%)	Moisture (%)	A. flavus	A. niger	C. lunata	Fusarium	Penicilium
Other farmers
Sacks	83 ± 1.85	9.65 ± 0.06	12.8b	17.9 cd	4.8abc	7.9c	4.8a
Kitchen	84 ± 1.64	10.2 ± 0.03	11.4b	15.2bcd	13.1 cd	6c	0
Granary	92 ± 0.41	10.7 ± 0.25	3.6a	25.6ef¹	0a	0a	0
Plastics	85 ± 1.68	9 ± 0.03	2.4a	12.8bc	16.8d	2.4ab	0.4b
Relatives
Sacks	64 ± 4.49	9.2 ± 0.04	19.45c	32.15f¹	5.95abc	0.4a	0
Plastics	45 ± 3.24	13.3 ± 0.32	3.8a	2.4a	17.6d	7.2c	0
Government
Sacks	79 ± 2.75	11 ± 0.17	11.8b	16bcd	4.55abc	3.4b	0
NGOs
Sacks	85 ± 0.59	9.3 ± 0.19	4.8a	99.2 h¹	1.6ab	1.6a	0
Kitchen	–	10 ± 0.10	28.8d¹	23.2de	10.4bcd	0.8a	0
Granary	80 ± 0.81	11.6 ± 0.16	28.8d¹	60.4g¹	4abc	0.4a	0
Local market
Sacks	93 ± 1.45	11 ± 0.21	21.6c	8.8ab	4.8abc	0a	0
Granary	–	–	2.4a	32f¹	4abc	0a	0
LSD (p ≤ 0.05)		4.4	8.4	10.4	2.6	2.6

LSD (least significant difference) calculates the smallest significant difference between two means enabling direct comparisons between two means from two individual groups. Means followed by the same letter (in columns) are not significantly different at 95% confidence interval. Formal seed certification sorghum standards for Zimbabwe, germination 80% and moisture content 12.5%
¹Percentage incidence greater than 25%

ISSN: 2048-7010