General Principles of Seed Testing Laboratory
1. The physical –infrastructure and facilities should be planned on the basis of average expected workload during the peak seasons, so as to permit efficient handling of seed samples without undue delays. The working space should be adequate. This is important since the time taken in reporting results is of crucial importance. There should be sufficient space left for any special tests section etc. If the need arises.
2. The kinds of tests to be carried out or likely to be carried out, for example, routine tests, seed health test, varietal purity tests etc. must be ascertained in advance for making provisions in the plan.
3. The selection and number of the equipment should be such so as to permit efficient handling of work. The equipment must meet requisite specifications.
4. The decent furnishing, light arrangement and other necessities should be provided so as to reduce the strain of otherwise strenuous work.
Building A seed testing laboratory can be housed as a separate building or it could form part of a larger building housing a department. The entire work can be organized in a hall/or in separate rooms. The size of the building or space requirement depends upon the number of samples to be handled and the kind of tests to be done. The following space requirements for testing 10,000 samples per year may serve as a guideline.