1. Shortened Soybean Germ
Good Morning/Afternoon – How is everyone doing? I am here to give a brief overview of the Soybean Referee Project. This is a brief overview of the data to show the differences/similarities in the germination percentages of an 8 day germination period versus a 7 day germination period.
By: Nicolette Rusch
05/26/2016
Document name: Shortened Soybean Germ Document owner: Nicolette Rusch Last modified on: 05/26/2016

2. Purpose
The purpose of this referee is to obtain enough data to propose a rules change from an 8 day germination test to a 7 day germination test. This is regardless of the substrata or temperature.
Some labs use a 7-day test period and other labs use an 8-day test period as specified by AOSA Rules.
1. (After first bullet point) SCST and AOSA work together to conduct referees that are used to support changes to AOSA Rules. These rule changes are a key component to maintaining quality and uniformity in seed testing. This past year EBDI put together a Soybean Referee.
2. (After second bullet point) The goal of this referee is to gain enough data to promote a rules proposal this fall. This rules proposal would harmonize with Canada’s methods of testing Soybeans.

3. Brief Overview of the Referee Design
There were 33 labs that participated in the referee this year.
The referee consisted of 6 lots of Soybeans.
Each lab was instructed to plant each lot twice.
Each lot was to be planted for a 7 day final evaluation and an 8 day final evaluation.
A first count or extension was up to the discretion of the lab.
Each lab could use their standard substrata and temperature.
(After first bullet point) Thank you to all of the labs that participated. If anyone would like their individual results and how they compare to the average, please don’t hesitate to contact me at
(After very last bullet point) The substrata and temperature should not have had an effect on the germination percentage because they should be comparable to each other.

4. Overview of the Data – Day by Lot
(Say first) Now we are going to go over the data. This is a brief overview of the data showing the differences/similarities between a 7 day evaluation and an 8 day evaluation. These are just a few slides showing the correlations between the 7 and 8 day germination evaluations.
(Say second) This is analysis by lot. This graph is showing the average, along with the standard deviation, of both 7 day germination percentages (across all labs) and 8 day germination percentages (across all labs). Lot 2 has a wider standard deviation due to the quality of the seed. The averages across lots, between 7 day germination and 8 day germination are very closely related.

5. Overview of Data – No Significant Difference
One-way ANOVA shows no significant difference by day.

6. Overview of the Data – Day by Lab
1. Here the graph is showing the average of all the lots per lab (by day). Even though the lots are different, the average of all 6 of them between 7 and 8 days does not differ greatly between each other.

7. Overview of the Data – Lab by Lot 1
The next six slides show each of the labs germination percentages by the germination day (7 vs. 8). Even though there are some differences from lab to lab on germination percentages, within each of the labs, the germination percentages between 7 and 8 day seem to be very “tight” and within tolerance of each other. There are only a couple of outliers.

8. Overview of the Data – Lab by Lot 2
This graph is for Lot number 2. Note the scale difference in this graph (to capture the variation in the germination percentage. This lot was of poor quality and it was fascinating to see what each lab had for a germination percentage. This sample ranged from a 74.25% to a 0.25%. Very interesting. The substrata and temperatures differed and so did the temperatures. Those could be variables that affected the end germination percentage. Overall, the averages are comparable.

9. Overview of the Data – Lab by Lot 3
This is Lot 3.

10. Overview of the Data – Lab by Lot 4
This is by Lot 4.

11. Overview of the Data – Lab by Lot 5
This is Lot 5.

12. Overview of the Data – Lab by Lot 6
Finally, lot 6.

13. Summary
It appears that there is no significant difference between a 7 day evaluation and an 8 day evaluation for Soybeans.
THANK YOU!
1. (After bullet point) There is a uniformity issue that is separate from the days method. This is evident in lot 2.
Overall, if labs were to test at 7 days instead of 8, it does not appear that it would impactful on the germination percentage.
2. We would like to thank everyone who participated.