Producdtion Techniques
Seed production at Unicorn involves a long,
carefully developed process. The production process comprises various steps like
1) Nursery Raising which include
- Box sowing and Plug tray sowing
- Poly house nursery
- Field Nursery
2) Field Transplantation
3) Hybridization
4) Curing
5) Seed Extraction
6) Post Production Handling that incldes sizing, lab testing and packing.
During Nursery raising stage good quality seeds will be first sown
in Plug trays & some times in wooden trays for germination. The trays will be kept in
a poly house for about 10 to 12
days to grow robust seedlings. The saplings will then be transplanted in the field nursery
for further growth.
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From the field nursery the saplings will again be transplanted to main field that measure
about an acre.
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Before Hybridization
process all crops are thoroughly rogued for off-types and isolations are strictly
maintained. Male plots are rogued before pollination begins where as female plots are
rogued many times before any fruit picking begins. Pollination is carried out manually by supplying pollen on a
finger ring.
The fruits are harvested and cured if necessary depending on the crop.The seeds are
extracted, washed and dried in shade. All precautions are taken during this process to
avoid fungal development. The seeds are graded according to size and weight and then
sent to lab for viability testing. Once the quality is ensured the seeds will move to the
automatic processing machinery that delivers accurate and high quality pilferproof
packages, ready for shipping.
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