ASTEC Europe sponsored the 2009 Q2 Congres. 20 European companies were present when Pedro Bello explained the advantages of Thermogradient use in Q2. 10 of them own a Q2 already.

Johan Van Asbrouck guided the conference as usual and explained the results of the enquiry to the audience of 27 people. The enquiery showed that all companies present, that bought the Q2, would do so again. Service of ASTEC is considered fair, but could improve on the level of delivery information.

7 companies are interested to invest in advanced fundamental research to improve the insight in the ASTEC Values (relation to shelf life, potential of germination). 

Picture: Pedro Bello (UC Davis) & The Audience in Kasteel Oud-Poelgeest.

Yearly ASTEC Q2 conference, sponsored by ASTEC Europe, will be held on 22 June from 9.30 - 18.00 hrs. on Castle Oud-Poelgeest in Oegstgeest near Leiden.

With guests from several countries the owners of Q2 and interested scientists will meet to discuss the progress in Q2 software, the introduction of Thermo-Gradient enhancement on the Q2 and future research to be conducted in cooperation with University of California, Davis.

Many renown Universities are present, like California-Davis, Aarhus-Denmark, Hohenheim-Germany and Wageningen (WUR)-Netherlands. The conference will be lead by our Q2 specialist, Vice-President Research and Technology ASTEC: Johan van Asbrouck. Also present Professor Bert van Duijn and Arie Draaijer from the TNO research company Fytagoras, Leiden.

In case you like to participate in the 2009 conference, call or mail Antoon Santegoeds.
The next Q2 conference will be held in Germany in June 2010.

Seed Support, Coating Supply and ASTEC will license sugar beet priming in Europe.

As of now sugar beet seed producers in Europe have the opportunity to use the Primo processes developed by Seed Support (Josep Trias, Bart Smit and Willem van Lith). The patented Primo process is based on a previous priming invention from Coating Supply Inc., of Florida.

ASTEC expects that several producers in Europe will benefit by having in-house priming of the best possible quality. ASTEC has 3 years experience with the Primo process in its own factory in Sheridan, USA.  Seed Support will adjust the process to the needs of each individual customer. ASTEC has the distribution rights for primed sugar beets. In the picture from left to right: Willem van Lith (Seed Support), Antoon Santegoeds (ASTEC Europe) and Josep Trias (Coating Supply).

For more information on priming and other seed technology options from ASTEC contact Antoon Santegoeds.

ASTEC introduced an upgraded software module. It makes analysing germination curves on Oxygen deprived seeds an easy job. This in combination with the Q2 hardware and the new 0 and 100% standard Oxygen measurements.

On the picture we have Johan van Asbrouck explaining the ASTEC values. On the next picture we have part of the participants with our head of Research from left to right: Corine de Groot (BEJO), Maaike van Kilsdonk (NICKERSON ZWAAN) Wendy van Paridon (INCOTEC), Alex Boonman (ENZA). Not in the picture are Johannes Ravn Jorgensen (University of Aarhus), Steven Groot (PRI, WUR), Sebastian Bopper (Hohenheim University), Martijn de Loof (De Ruiter Seeds).Tanja Djacovics-Petrovics (Seminis), Ger Lenssen en Jan Hoogendoorn (RIJK ZWAAN), Marijke Kottenhagen en Bert van Duijn (Fytagoras), Michiel Visser and Antoon Santegoeds (ASTEC).

The new sealer is able to shut the ASTEC Oxygen sensitive seals airtight on the vials. The 96 vial can be ordered now. The 48 hole vial will follow in May.

UC DAVIS Q2 introduction for the USA attracted participants from the horticulture, agriculture and the pesticide sector as well as from institutes to promote seed quality in general. Key-note speaker Dr. Kent Bradford (not on the picture) has shown the participants the correlation between ASTEC values of the Q2 output and the laboratory results.

Professor Bradford works with one of his students (Pedro Bello) to demonstrate the influence of temperature in the oxygen deprivation test by combining the Q2 with a thermogradient table underneath.

In the picture from left to right: Courtney Kite (Silent Fire, Inc.), Mary Voorhees (Californian Crop Improvement Association), Antoon Santegoeds and Johan van Asbrouck (ASTEC-Global), Chengwei Ren (Beta Seed Inc.), Pedro Bello (UC DAVIS), Zhenyong Wan (Ball Horticultural Company).

After the successful introduction of the updated Q2 Seed Quality Test in Medemblik, last January, ASTEC will continue its training sessions with a 3 day workshop on the University of California, DAVIS.

The updated Q2 will inform users exactly on the possibilities of a seed lot by showing the reaction of the seeds on oxygen deprivation in a controlled airtight environment. The new Q2 software with its easy operating module shows quickly each individual curve and the fitted average curve of Oxygen consumption of the seed in time connected to the tester. The ASTEC values can be derived now automatically and indicate several detailed quality assessments on each seed lot:

• IMT: Increased Metabolism Time = Time till initial water intake is completed.

• OMT: Oxygen Metabolism Rate = Energy: Speed of oxygen use.

• RGT: Relative Germination Time = Indicates expected emergence time.

• HOM: Homologized uniformity = Relative equality within the seed lot.

• COP: Critical Oxygen Pressure = Slow down point in time on oxygen limit.

The Q2 is able to measure a broad range of seeds among which sugar beet, corn, sunflowers, cabbages, lettuce, tomato and cucumbers. Several protocols have been developed to work in a standardized way toward an optimized quality assessment.

The updated machine is now available in a package deal: Q2 Complete including all base parts, sealer, training and a starter package of testing trays and vials.
For existing customers a complete new high power sealer is available the Q-Seal. In combination with the new double strength trays and seals, this sealer secures airtight and simple sealing for all tray-sizes.
 

GrowTechnology and Astec Global have signed an exclusive agreement to promote and sell the Seedanalyser (SA10) worldwide through Astec Global. The Seedanalyser is developed by GrowTechnology B.V. Astec Global is pleased that it can add the Seedanalyser to the list of its commercial products. The Seedanalyser can work complementary to the by Astec Global developed Q2 machine. Both machines give different information about the seed-lot quality. It also fits in the Astec-Global philosophy to bring new developments to the seed industry worldwide.

The Seedanalyser is developed for a quick evaluation of the seed maturity in the field. It will give directly information about the most optimal moment to harvest the seeds. Astec Global is now testing the suitability of the Seedanalyser during the cleaning process of the seeds.

The measurement is based on chlorophyll fluorescence. The technique is a very sensitive, fast, non-destructive method for measuring chlorophyll in seeds. Scientifically it has been shown that chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) can be used as an effective indicator of seed ripeness: as the quantity of chlorophyll decreases during seed maturation ripe seeds contain smaller quantities of chlorophyll than immature seeds. During the measurement seeds are irradiated with a specific wavelength of the light spectrum from a laser. Chlorophyll emission corresponds with the amount of chlorophyll present in the seeds. On the screen a graph of the distribution in seed ripeness will be displayed.

Anthony Brouwers ((President Grow®) and Freek Schreurs (Director New Business WW Astec-Global) believe that the Seedanalyser can be used in the future also in other parts of the seed logistics.

Verdict Systems and Astec Global have signed an exclusive agreement to promote and sell Verdict data loggers in Asia and Africa through ASTEC-Global. The Verdict data logger systems starts to become more and more a standard quality control tool in the European vegetable seed supply chain.

Due to its small size, easy data processing  (temperature and RH %) over the internet and attractive commercial package, this product will find its way also to the seed-industry in Asia and Africa . Michel Kockelkoren (Director Orbi solutions www.verdict.eu) and Freek Schreurs (Director New Business WW Astec-global www.astec-global.com)  believe that the Verdict dataloggers within a few years also will be a standard quality control system in the Asian and African seed industry. For more information contact Freek Schreurs at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

At this moment is the product only available in English. The coming months ASTEC-employees will produce a Chinese translation. 

ASTEC Global will be present at the APSA in Manila with all board members.