The seeds sold and produced by Capal undergo several evaluations throughout the process of receipt, production, storage and post-shipment, in order to ensure maximum quality for members and customers.
LAS is accredited by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and is governed by good laboratory practices, specific normative instructions and strictly following the requirements of ABNT NBR ISO/IEC 17.025, a standard developed for the accreditation of laboratories and which contributes to providing impartial, reliable and traceable.
Agricultural engineer Samara Moreira Perissato (photo at the beginning of this article), technical manager of the LAS, explains that seed analysis takes place in two ways: preliminary analyzes (internal quality control) and definitive analyzes (issuance of results in the form of Bulletins of Seed Analysis).
“Everything passes through our hands to ensure the quality of Capal seeds. In general, LAS tracks batches, from pre-harvest, at the entry of loads, throughout the entire processing process and when issuing results in seed analysis bulletins. Even at the end of the process, there is control of the batches already sold with shipping samples to guarantee the high quality of the seeds sent to members and customers”, he explains.
The laboratory has an adequate and excellent structure to meet the Cooperative's demands, with a sample reception and homogenization room, three germination rooms, an analysis room, two assembly rooms and a sample archive room.
“Of the germination rooms, it is worth mentioning that two of them are equipped to conduct tests in sand, a big difference from what is found on the market. The sand rooms have controlled humidity and temperature conditions and accurately simulate field germination conditions. All equipment and procedures are monitored within the requirements of legislation and by the laboratory’s own quality management system”, he highlighted.
In LAS, seeds of wheat, soybeans, corn, beans, white and black oats, triticale and barley are analyzed. The analysis process begins when the samples, which must be within an ideal weight of at least one kilogram and accompanied by a request form, arrive at the laboratory.
“We follow the protocols established by RAS (Rules for Seed Analysis) or updates based on literature and international bodies such as AOSA (Association of Official Seed Analysts) and ISTA (International Seed Testing Association). When a sample arrives, it will be homogenized and entered into a computerized system generating a number.”
The first step, according to Samara, is to carry out the purity analysis, where inert materials and seeds from other species are separated. “So, we started doing the other tests using the pure seed portion. The lab’s goal is to do more than 200 samples per week,” he said.
Among the tests for quality assessment are germination and vigor, which aim to analyze the physiological potential of the seed. In addition, the genetic quality of the batch is assessed, which checks other cultivars and the physical quality, determined in the purity analysis.
“The results provided by the LAS are connected to the UBS. If problems are identified during the analysis, the objective is to communicate them to help them make decisions to improve the efficiency of the processing process”, he pointed out.
In total, 13 professionals, including analysts, assistants, quality supervisor and technical manager, work at LAS in Wenceslau Braz. Everyone has undergone training and qualifications to work with seeds and are constantly improving through internal and external training.
“The work carried out here is of great importance for the entire sector. We are connected with the results provided by Capal. We are growing and our interest is to focus on training professionals to meet demand, as our focus is the quality of the information we offer”, he concluded.
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