Seed saving

Seed saving is the collection, processing, and storage of seeds for future planting. It preserves useful crop traits and enables growers to replant selected varieties.

Seed maturity: The developmental stage at which a seed is fully formed and capable of germinating. Seeds collected before full maturity often have poor viability during storage and planting.
Pollination: The transfer of pollen from an anther to a receptive stigma, enabling fertilization in seed plants. Pollination determines which plants can contribute pollen to a seed crop.
Heirloom plant: A cultivated plant variety maintained over generations, often through open pollination and seed saving. Heirloom varieties are commonly continued through growers' saved seed.
Agrobiodiversity: The diversity of plants, animals, and microorganisms used in or associated with agriculture. Saving multiple varieties helps maintain diversity within cultivated crops.
Seed viability: A seed's capacity to germinate and produce a healthy plant under suitable conditions. Viability measures whether a saved seed is still capable of growing.
Self-pollination: Pollination in which pollen fertilizes an ovule on the same plant or another plant of the same genetic individual. Self-pollinating crops often retain their variety's traits more predictably across generations.
Open-pollinated variety: A plant variety whose offspring generally resemble the parent variety when pollinated within the variety. Its seed can usually be saved without the predictable segregation found in many hybrids.
Genetic erosion: The loss of genetic diversity within a species or population over time. Replacing locally maintained varieties can narrow the genetic base that seed saving helps retain.
Seed dormancy: A condition in which a viable seed does not germinate until specific environmental or physiological requirements are met. Dormancy can delay germination even when saved seeds remain alive.
Cross-pollination: Pollination involving pollen transferred between genetically distinct plants. Cross-pollination can mix varieties and produce offspring unlike either parent.

Linked from 10 pages