Seed Biology and Production at the DCV

Because Chile is a primary exporter of seed for the Northern Hemisphere and a pioneer in South America in the area of seed production and certification, the subject of seed technology and production is of paramount importance to FAIF in general and the DCV in particular. For several years, the Department has offered a Seed Production course and many of the professionals leading the growth of the Chilean Seed Industry have been students from the university. Approximately 10 years ago, seed production and technology were declared priority areas that the DCV wished to develop and be recognized for excellence. Samuel Contreras was added as a faculty member to the DCV in 2001 with the principal objective of enhancing the development of a departmental seed technology program. In October 2002, the DCV and the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science of the Ohio State University (OSU) organized the international seminar “Seeds: trade, production and technology” supported by the Association of Chilean Seed Producers (ANPROS) and the Foundation for Innovation in Agriculture (FIA). In this seminar, held on the San Joaquin Campus of PUC (Santiago, Chile), seven OSU faculty members initiated a long-term cooperation between the DCV and the well recognized OSU Seed Biology Program. In 2003, Samuel Contreras began his Ph.D. program at OSU and in January, 2005, the DCV joined OSU and the College of Agriculture Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) as a member of the Consortium for International Seed Technology Training (CISTT). The DCV recognizes the unique and valuable contributions that being a member of CISTT represents in order to achieve its goal of developing a globally competitive seed technology program capable of satisfying the increasing requirements for education and research of the Chilean seed industry.

Samuel Contreras received his Ph.D. in December, 2007 and will stay at OSU working as a Visiting Scientist with Dr. Miller McDonald until July, 2008. His activities during that time are related to the development, improvement, and translation to Spanish of seed-related educational material sponsored by the consortium. During Samuel’s absence, Rebeca Unghiatti (agronomy engineer and M.Sc. from PUC) has been in charge of the Seed Production course at the DCV. Rebeca has participated actively in the consortium activities and has become an important member of the seed technology program at the DCV.

The goals of the DCV Seed Technology program during 2008 are to continue to improve teaching and research in the area of seed production and technology along with enhancing the relationship between the university and Chilean seed producers.