EPD 2.0 (Early Plant Development)
With EPD 2.0 your sugar beet crop hits the ground running
- Fast and even germination and emergence
- Early and rapid plant development for early plant vigour
- The best start to reach plant maturity and fast row closure
What is EPD 2.0 (Early Plant Development?)
EPD 2.0 Overview
In contrast to simple pre-treatment of seeds, EPD is a complete system approach which combines KWS specific seed preparation methods and seed coating components. This results in early and homogenous emergence of seed as well as improved early plant vigour – essential to a high yielding crop.
KWS Seed Technology
The KWS seed lot specific processing and pelleting allows the highest level of quality control. Germination and emergence testing are completed under optimal and stress conditions at all stages to deliver you the best product.
GESA – high speed analyzing technology to ensure
top-quality sugar beet seed
KWS EPD 2.0 seed gives us very even emergence with our sugar beet. Doubles and misses are few and far between - which has to be down to the consistent size and shape of the seed.
The production of KWS sugar beet seed is a 4 step process
Step 1 – Pre-cleaning
After harvest, raw seed is cleaned and conditioned to remove weed seeds, sugar beet seed of the wrong size and other contaminants from our seed lots.
Step 2 – Processing
Here, we grade and polish the beet seed to ensure we keep only the highest quality and remove the pericarp before activation and pelleting. In addition, seed is screened to ensure high germination levels and consistently sized seed.
Step 3 – Pelleting
We use our own pelleting process to protect the beet seed and make sure our seed is consistent in shape and size to support precision drilling on farm.
Step 4 – Seed Coating
After pelleting the beet seed is coated to prevent damage to the seed during storage and drilling. In some cases, thin layers of fungicides or insecticides may be applied to provide targeted protection to the seeds in the soil and during establishment. All KWS pelleted seed is coated in orange so it can be identified easily in field!
Comparative performance of KWS EPD and EPD2.0 processed seed
Three years of rigorous independent trials run by the BBRO have shown that KWS' Early Plant Development seed technology delivers under UK conditions and is of a quality that is comfortably competitive in the UK market.
KWS EPD 2.0 gives a yield benefit of an additional 1.5t/ha in comparison to KWS EPD*.
*Mean of 34 treatments comprising 1,224 plots across six locations and spanning three consecutive seasons (2016 - 2018). Source: BBRO
