Bleach Treatment for Tomato Seed Disinfection

[seaeagle]

Here is concrete proof that Bleach is an extremely effective way to disinfect seeds, more effective than fermentation alone.I don't use it because I have little or no problem with diseases.I almost couldn't find it again, found it last year when fermentation was being discussed in another seed saving thread.

PDF file and huge one - 43 pages.Here is the abstract for anyone who has difficulty downloading it.

http://www.tomatosolutions.ca/sitebu...les/tomdis.pdf

Tomato Seed Disinfection with Chlorine
Tomato Solutions
J. A. Dick and A. A. Dick
October 19, 2014
ABSTRACT
Chlorine is a commonly used disinfectant for tomato seed contaminated with the bacterial
pathogens causing canker, spot, and speck diseases. Previous research has attempted to
determine chlorine effectiveness by testing for the presence of the pathogen after treatment of
infected seed lots. Even with the most advanced techniques, the accuracy of these methods is
questionable, and can underestimate the potential for causing disease. In contrast, this research
tested the effectiveness of chlorine for disinfecting tomato seed by plating treated seed onto
potato dextrose agar to determine the percentage of disinfected seeds. The elimination of all
bacterial growth from seed including bacteria such as Bacillus with highly resistant spores should
indicate the efficacy of a treatment for the elimination of bacterial pathogens. Dry seed that was
previously extracted by fermentation could be effectively disinfected after pre-soaking in water
for 24 hours at a temperature inhibitory to germination, and then treating with 5000 mg/L
chlorine at 20°C at pH 9.5 for 60 minutes with constant agitation. The threshold level for
disinfection was 2500 mg/L of chlorine resulting in less than 1% infested seeds, but slightly more
than 0%. Oxidation of the seed coat by the hypochlorite ion was the main factor resulting in
disinfection, but an additional effect from the presence of low levels of hypochlorous acid was
also found.

And yes fermentation was used first, but fermentation alone doesn't have the success rate when using bleach along with it.Without going back and reading it, I think they just used fermentation to remove the gel coat.When using bleach with fermentation the success rate was over 99% disinfection.