1. Nucleus or basic seed: It is the original or first seed (propagating material) of a variety available with the producing breeder in small quantity. This seed has 100% genetic purity along with high standards of all other quality parameters. Tag/label is not used in nucleus seed as certificate is given by concerned breeder. Nucleus seed is used to produce breeder seed.
2. Breeder seed: Breeder seed is the progeny of nucleus seed. It is directly controlled by the concerned plant breeder and produced by SAU’s and ICAR organizations. Genetic purity of breeder seed is also 100%. Breeder seed label is golden brown in color. It may divide in two groups- Breeder seed stage-I and Breeder seed stage-II. BSS-II is allowed only under the conditions when the breeder seed is in short supply. It is monitored by a joint team having one person each from ICAR, National Seed Corporation, Seed Certification Agency, Seed technologist and concerned breeder.
3. Foundation seed: Foundation seed is the progeny of breeder seed which is produced under supervision of seed certification agency. Its tag color is white and label colour is opel-green. Genetic purity of foundation seed is 99%. Foundation seed is produced by various public and private seed organizations. It is used to produce certified as well as truthfully labeled seed. Foundation seed which is produced directly from breeder seed is designated as foundation seed stage-I and foundation seed produced from foundation seed stage-I is designated as foundation seed stage-II. Foundation seed stage-II is permitted only when breeder seed is in short supply. Foundation seed stage-II can not be used for further increase of foundation seed and can be used only for production of certified seed. White tag is used for both the stages of foundation seed.
4. Certified seed: Certified seed is the progeny of foundation seed which is produced under supervision of seed certification agency. Its tag color is azure blue and label colour is opel-green. Certified seed can also be the progeny of certified seed provided this reproduction does not exceed three generations beyond foundation seed stage-I. Genetic purity of certified seed is 98%. Certified seed is produced by various public as well as private seed organization and this seed is used by the farmer for raising the crops.
Truthfully labeled seed (T.L.): Truthfully labeled seed (T.L.) is the progeny of foundation seed which is produced without supervision of seed certification agency. Its label color is light green. The demand for certified quality seed is much more than actually available. So, truthfully labeled seed can be produced to fulfill the demand of farmers. We can produce the truthfully labeled of those varieties which are released but not notified and there is demand among the farmers. Certified seed can be produced of only those varieties which are notified under section 5 of seed act, 1966.