I have canola vigour tests to give away

Our April 21 issue has an article by Gerald Pilger called "Vigorous seed has more disease resistance." At the end of that article, Gerald writes about a "breathalyzer for your canola seed." This VigorCheck test for canola seed takes 24 hours and you can do it at home. Wayne Buckley, the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research scientist who developed the test, sent Grainews nine test kits to give away. Because each farm has more than one canola seed lot, I'll give three kits each to the first three farmers who e-mail me and ask for them. My e-mail is jay@fbcpublishing.com. 

More about the kits...

They are small jars, no more than 80 ml (or one quarter of a cup.) In those jars you put a sample of canola seed plus a little water. The kit includes a test tube to measure the right amount of canola and a syringe that holds the right amount of water. Then you put the lid on, shake for a few seconds and leave it for a day. In that time, the seed will give off ethanol. Deteriorated seed — low-vigour seed — gives off a lot more ethanol than sound seed. If the sensor on the jar cap turns solid blue, the seed is low vigour. If it stays yellow or blue-grey, the seed is good. If a canola seed lot does test low for vigour, you probably want to plant that seed later into warmer soils to reduce stress.