Get reliable science

Seed Certification as a means to track genetic identity and purity for seed of traditional agricultural crop varieties has been formalized in the United States and Canada for almost 100 years, as implemented by the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA). More recently, the genetic identity and genetic purity of native and naturalized plant materials utilized in range revegetation efforts have garnered more attention. AOSCA thus developed Pre-Variety Germplasm (PVG) Requirements and Standards (as distinctive categories of certified seed) to provide for genetically verified marketplace movement of both wildland collected and field grown species destined for revegetation use. According to AOSCA, Source Identified plant materials are unevaluated germplasm of a species where only the location (minimum of state, county, and elevation) of the original wildland growing parents is known. Selected plant materials are those for which distinctive traits have been recognized and show promise for desired applications on the landscape. Tested plant materials are those for which such distinctive traits have been shown to be heritable, but the uniformity and stability of such traits, as well as the proven area of adaptation, have not been defined to the extent required for formal variety release. The intent of the PVG concept is to track the identity and purity of plant materials that are needed for timely (often immediate) restoration of specific geographic areas, where the market potential is usually limited to those areas. In cases where a locally collected material is shown to be adapted and marketed over a much larger geographic area, formal variety release should be pursued.