FIELD CERTIFICATION FOR COTTON

By Francis O Karangala

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INTRODUCTION
Only registered seed merchant/growers are
allowed to produce, process or sell seed in
Kenya by KEPHIS requirement for
registration are stipulated in seeds and
plant varieties Act Cap 326
Cotton does not fall under schedule II of
the Act “compulsory Certification” i.e
mandatory certification for cultivars tested
in NPT, officially released by the minister
and indexed.
Currently the variety HART 89M is
undergoing DUS (distinctiveness,
uniformity and stability test) – 1st year
done
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 FIELD INSPECTION
Registered fields must undergo inspection by
KEPHIS.
Field inspection carried out against prescribed
minimum field standards.
Previous cropping – A field crop maybe registered
under the following conditions.

 If certified seed of the same variety has been produced

during the previous growing season.
 If any other plants but cotton have been established
thereon for seed production or otherwise as an
intermediate crop prior to registration
 If production practices used that minimize/prevent the
viability of volunteer cotton.

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 FIELD INSPECTION STANDARDS
a) Isolation And Off Types

Seed Category Isolation (M) Off-types allowed per

100 Plants (heads)

Breeders seed 800 1

Pre-basic 800 2

Basic 800 2

Certified 600 5
generation 1 to 4
(C1 – C4)

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 Field Inspection Standards Cont
All off types and doubtful plants should be
rogued before the final inspection is
undertaken.
b) NUMBER OF INSPECTIONS
We undertake 2 field inspection.
First inspection at 50% flowering (70 days
after sowing).
Second inspection at 50% boll opening
(140 days after sowing)
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 Field Inspection Standards Cont
c) DISEASES
Bacterial blight – Xanthomonas Malvacearum
Fusarium wilt – Fusarium oxysporum
There will be zero tolerance for diseases during
2nd and final inspection.
d) WEEDS AND PESTS
Pests
American boll worm – Heliothus armigera
Cotton stainer – Dysdercuss spp
Cotton jasids – Empoasa spp
Cotton aphid – Aphid Gossypii

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 Field Inspection Standards Cont

Weeds (also harmful pests), which lower

the quality of seed cotton to be
controlled adequately before the final
inspection.

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 2. HARVESTING

Picking should ensure the separation of

broken pieces of dry plant material from
cotton
Sisal bags must never be used for seed
cotton as sisal fibres can easily become
mixed with lint and that creates ginning
and spinning problems.

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 3. PROCESSING
This is the removal of the lint from the seed
cotton. Ginneries are equipped with either
the rotor gins, which are 8 inches (20cm) in
diameter or saw gin which are 8 -12in (20-
30cm) in diameter.
The purpose of the gins is to allow the lint to
pass through while preventing the seed
cotton.
The presence of fuzz on the seed hinders the
ginning process.

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 4. LOT INSPECTION
A ginned seed lot shall not pass for
labelling or sealing if it contains more
than 10% of grade B cotton
LINT GRADES
a)AR – Clean and high quality
b)BR – Dirty (stained) and low quality
An official sample of 2Kgs for laboratory
tests and post control test is drawn from
each lot size 2500 kg.
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5. SEED STANDARD

Germination – 70%
Moisture content – 14%
Purity – 98%

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 PURITY
Breeders Basic Cert.
seed
% % %
Pure seed 98 98 90
Other crops 0 0.01 0.10
Inert 2 2 2
Noxious 0 0 0
weed
Weed 0 0.01 0.02
seeds
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For More Information contact
Managing Director
Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service
P.O. Box 49592-00100,
Nairobi, GPO
KENYA
Tel:254-2-884545, Fax:254-2-882265
E-mail: director@kephis.org
www.kephis.org

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