Rama Krishna Sangem
The Telangana International Seed Testing Authority (TISTA)’s state of the art laboratory at Rajendra Nagar in Hyderabad has secured the accreditation by International Seed Testing Authority (ISTA) for seoud consecutive term of three more years on November 11, 2024. The TISTA has for the first time got recognition in 2022. ISTA is based in Geneva, Switzerland with a global presence.
TISTA was established in 1989 by the Telangana government through the agriculture department. Quality seed is a key factor in improving agricultural productivity and quality standards. Seed testing is essential to protect the farmers from spurious seeds that are available in the market. As farmers from Telangana have been producing quality seed every year that is exported all over it is important to have an internationally accredited seed testing laboratory here.
A three member panel of agricultural scientists from ISTA that visited Telangana has conducted various tests like samples collection, purity and germination etc at TISTA before granting the accreditation. The international accreditation for this lab would definitely help quality seed production and supply from Telangana to the other states as well as other countries too, said Dr K Keshavulu, director of TISTA.
India’s largest seed testing lab
“I am happy to mention that, it is one of the largest seed testing lab under public sector in India and second lab under public sector with ISTA accreditation in the country. The laboratory’s staff consists of 22 members in total: 12 technical staff and 10 supporting staff. Offer a wide range of testing services, including vigour, viability, seed health, and molecular tests, in addition to routine testing”.
The laboratory has become a member of ISTA in 2016 and has obtained ISTA accreditation in the year 2022 with a vision to promote international seed trade and exports from India / Telangana. The scope of the laboratory covers the sampling, purity, germination and moisture estimation, and also actively working to expand this scope to include additional tests such as vigour, viability, and seed health.
“I think we are participating in PT rounds for this purpose. This lab capacity is about 40,000 samples per year for domestic purpose and for ISTA analysis we are getting about 150 samples, majority are of OIC (140 Nos) and few are BIC (10 Nos) First audit was done in October 2021, unfortunately because of COVID it was a remote audit and it is our first physical audit and I hope that, our staff are more excited and well prepared to face the audit with good confidence”.
“I would also take this opportunity to mention about the seed testing infrastructure in India. We have about 170+ notified seed testing labs in the country, of which 28 are ISTA member labs and only 9 are ISTA accredited. Still many labs are
trying for the ISTA accreditation. In this city only, we have 9 ISTA member labs, of which 3 are accredited.
Hence, there is a great scope for expanding ISTA accreditation in India,” said Dr Keshavulu on the occasion.
