Seed Science and Technology

Seed technology is a relatively new discipline, in terms of academic study, having only in recent years emerged as an integrated subject. Although highly specialized, it is a broad subject, which requires an understanding of many disciplines. In the developing world, there are very few seed technologists, and most general agriculturists lack the basic knowledge of seed technology. Unfortunately, there are only a very few universities in the world that offer B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in Seed Science and Technology. Moreover, these universities are all located in the developed world, where studies are expensive and restricted to a limited number of students. Although seed science and technology is a crucial element of agricultural production, it is seldom adequately covered in plant breeding and agronomy curricula. Aware of this situation, and as a first step towards improving it, a workshop was held at the University of Jordan, Faculty of Agriculture, Amman, Jordan, from April 22 to May 10, 1993. The workshop was sponsored by MEDCAMPUS, and EU program designed to stimulate cooperation between EU universities and Mediterranean Non-Community (MNC) countries. Nineteen participants from eight countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey) attended the workshop. The majority were university teachers in their respective countries. Resource personnel came from EU countries (Greece, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Spain) as well as from ICARDA and the University of Jordan. The aim of the workshop was to strengthen the seed science and technology knowledge of university teachers throughout the WANA region. During the workshop, discussions were held on the need for and content of an M.Sc. course on Seed Science and Technology in the WANA region. As a result, the University of Jordan, Amman, has established a Seed Science and Technology major within its crop science master's degree course. In addition to the papers that make up the present work, which represent the basic knowledge necessary for the study of seed science and technology, detailed country reports were also presented at the workshop. As several of these country reports are no longer up-to-date, they have been omitted.