Section 10.21 - Requirements and Standards for Hybrid Sorghum Varietal Purity Grow-Outs(a) Test planting requirements. (1) Male sterile lines, pollinator lines, and all sorghum hybrid seed must be test-planted (varietal purity grow-out test). Such test must be conducted under the supervision of the Seed Quality Program, as the enforcement agency. The required test for male sterile lines, pollinator lines, and hybrid sorghum (grain types) must consist of not less than 1/10 acre of not less than 3,000 plants in one location. The required test for forage and grass type hybrids must consist of not less than 1/20 acre of not less than 1,000 plants in one location. It will be the responsibility of the seed producer to notify his or her area Regional Office in the area where the seed is stored when the lot of seed is ready to be sampled. Samples must be drawn as directed by the department. Two pounds of seed will be required for each 1/10 acre test and one pound of seed for each 1/20 acre test. The test will be inspected during the bloom stage by approved inspectors of the department.(2) A sample considered to be on the borderline between acceptance and rejection or a sample rejected by the department may be inspected by a sorghum advisory committee appointed annually by the State Seed and Plant Board. The committee will consist of two approved seed certification inspectors from the department, two Texas certified hybrid sorghum seed growers, and one member of Texas AgriLife Research. The committee will advise the Seed Quality Program of their recommendations. The seed producer will have the privilege of having at least a one acre plot (of a lot rejected in the grow-out test) of grain and forage hybrids planted for reconsideration by the department and the advisory committee. In the case of male sterile or pollinator lines planted for reconsideration, the test will be at least 2/5 acre. The same controls will apply to the larger plot that are applicable to the 1/10 or 1/20 acre tests.(3) A fee of $180 for each sample grown for reconsideration must be paid to the Texas Department of Agriculture, and the travel and per diem expenses of department personnel necessary to sample, plant, and inspect the larger plot must be paid by the seed producer.(4) Removal of any plants from any of the aforementioned grow-out tests at any time by the seed producer or by anyone else, with his knowledge, prior to the acceptance or rejection of the lot represented will immediately cancel the eligibility of the producer to certify.(b) Varietal purity grow-out test standard. Maximum objectionable sorghum plants permitted in the following. Attached Graphic
4 Tex. Admin. Code § 10.21
The provisions of this §10.21 adopted to be effective September 2, 1996, 21 TexReg 7955; amended to be effective October 13, 1997, 22 TexReg 9657; amended to be effective February 28, 2002, 27 TexReg 1316; amended to be effective September 1, 2003, 28 TexReg 7346; amended to be effective September 1, 2011, 36 TexReg 5348; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 40, Number 52, December 25, 2015, TexReg 9621, eff. 1/1/2016