Seeds

Microplastic-free seed treatment: Seed coating with colour pigments

The requirements for high-quality seed are diverse. It is essential to ensure that available arable land is used optimally. It is already a scarce resource today, yet it is responsible for feeding the global population. Therefore, germination rates must be optimized as much as possible. By providing ideal starting conditions for young plant growth, significant amounts of pesticides can often be saved throughout the growth cycle. Pigments play an important role in this process.

Pigments identify treated seed

To ensure high germination rates even under adverse conditions and to maintain good growth conditions, seeds are coated with protective agents known as seed treatments. This post-treatment step is often carried out using products that are already coloured. However, the desired colour pigments are also added separately during the treatment process itself, either to give more colour intensity to treatments that were insufficiently pre-pigmented by the manufacturer, or to add colour to transparent treatment agents in the first place. The purpose of this is, on the one hand, to distinguish between treated and untreated seed. On the other hand, the production date can also be linked to a specific colour, preventing unjustified complaints regarding expired seed.

Brand perception

Naturally, colouring with pigments also relates to the subjectively perceived quality and thus the brand perception of the seed supplier. The colour itself consists of high-quality, specially selected raw materials that combine to create vibrant, high-opacity, and therefore extremely efficient, stable, water-based pigment dispersions.