The role and importance of isolation distances in organic seed production of vegetables

Abstract

In the article are analyzed and discussed the results about vegetable organic seed production on limited areas, and their biological purity in dependents of ensuring isolation distances. The isolation distance varies from 50-100m in self-pollinated crops like tomato, sweet peas, beans, sweet pepper, eggplant etc. to 1000-1500 m in the case of carrot, radishe, onion, red beet. Minimum isolation distance recommendations are dependent on the context of the growing environment. In the same time the minimum isolation distance required for a foundation seed crop is markedly greater than that for a certified seed crop. Maintaining adequate isolation distances to prevent cross-pollination by crops of the same species is crucial to preserving seed variety integrity.