Part Definitions

1. Law
2. Tennessee Code
3. Agriculture and Horticulture
4. Agricultural Seeds
5. Seed Law of 1986
6. Part Definitions

As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. “Advertisement” means all representations, other than those on the label, disseminated in any manner or by any means, relating to seed within the scope of this part;
2. “Agricultural seeds” includes the seeds of grass, forage, cereal, and fiber crops and other kinds of seeds commonly recognized within this state as agricultural seeds, lawn seeds, and mixture of such seeds, and may include noxious-weed seeds when the commissioner determines that such seed is being used as agricultural seed;
3. “Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA)” is an organization that is incorporated and whose members are the certifying agencies;
4. “Brand” means the name, term, design, or trademark under which any person offers seed for sale;
5. “Certifying agency” means an agency authorized to officially certify seed under the laws of a state, territory, possession, or foreign country and that has certification standards for genetic purity and identity that meet those standards established by the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies and referenced in its official handbook;
6. “Class of certified seed” means one (1) of four (4) classes of certified seeds:
   1. Breeder;
   2. Foundation;
   3. Registered; and
   4. Certified as determined under procedures established by the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies and referenced in its official handbook;
7. “Commissioner” means the commissioner of agriculture or the commissioner's designated agent or agents;
8. “Conditioning” means cleaning, scarifying, treating, or blending to obtain uniform quality, and other operations that would change the purity or germination of the seed and therefore require testing to determine the quality of the seed, but does not include operations such as packaging, labeling, blending together of uniform lots of the same kind or variety without cleaning, or the preparation of a mixture without cleaning, any of which would not require retesting to determine the quality of the seed;
9. “Date of test” means the month and year the percentage of germination appearing on the label was obtained by laboratory test;
10. “Germination” means the percentages by count of seeds under consideration, determined to be capable of producing normal seedlings in a given period of time and under normal conditions;
11. “Grower's declaration” means a written declaration of a grower stating, for each lot of seed, the kind, variety or type, the lot number, place the seed was grown, quantity of seed, date shipped or delivered, to whom sold, shipped or delivered and the signature and address of the grower issuing the declaration;
12. “Hard seeds” means seeds that, because of hardness or impermeability, do not absorb moisture and germinate under prescribed tests, but remain hard during the normal period for germination;
13. “Hybrid” means the first-generation seed of a cross produced by controlling the pollination or by use of sterile lines and combining:
    1. Two (2) or more inbred lines;
    2. One (1) inbred or a single cross with an open-pollinated variety; or
    3. Two (2) varieties or species except open-pollinated varieties of corn. The second generation or subsequent generations from such crosses shall not be regarded as hybrids. For labeling purposes, recognized hybrid designations shall be treated as variety names;
14. “In bulk” refers to loose seed in bins, or open containers, and not to seed in bags or packets;
15. “Inbred line” means a relatively stable and pure breeding strain resulting from not less than four (4) successive generations of controlled self-pollination or four (4) successive generations of back-crossing in the case of male sterile lines;
16. “Inert matter” means all matter not seeds, and includes broken seeds, sterile florets, chaff, fungus bodies, and stones, determined by methods prescribed by rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this part;
17. “Inoculant” means a commercial preparation containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria applied to seed;
18. “Kind” means one (1) or more related species or subspecies that singly or collectively are known by one (1) common name; for example, corn, wheat, striate lespedeza, tall fescue, or cabbage;
19. “Labeling” includes all labels and other written, printed or graphic representations in any form whatsoever, accompanying or pertaining to any seed whether in bulk or in containers, and includes representations of invoices;
20. “Lot” means a definite quantity of seed identified by a lot number or other identification, which shall be uniform within recognized tolerances for the factors that appear in the labeling;
21. “Mixture” means seeds consisting of more than one (1) kind or kind and variety, each present in excess of five percent (5%) of the whole;
22. “Noxious-weed seeds” shall be divided into two (2) classes:
    1. “Prohibited noxious-weed seeds” are the seeds of weeds that, when established on the land, are highly destructive and are not controlled in the state by cultural practices commonly used; and
    2. “Restricted noxious-weed seeds” are the seeds of weeds that are very objectionable in fields, lawns, and gardens in the state and are difficult to control by cultural practices commonly used;
23. “Origin” means the state, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, possession of the United States or the foreign country where the seed was grown;
24. “Other crop seeds” means seeds of kinds or varieties of agricultural or vegetable crops other than those shown on the label as the primary kind or kind and variety;
25. “Person” includes any individual, partnership, corporation, company, society, association, or legal entity;
26. “Private hearing” consists of a discussion of facts between the person charged and the enforcement officer;
27. “Pure seed” means agricultural or vegetable seeds, exclusive of inert matter, weed seeds and all other seeds distinguishable from the kind or kind and variety being considered when examined according to procedures prescribed by rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this part;
28. “Purity” means the name or names of the kind, type or variety and the percentage of other crop seed; the percentage of weed seeds, including noxious-weed seeds; the percentage of inert matter; and the name and rate of occurrence of each noxious-weed seed;
29. “Recognized variety name” and “recognized hybrid designation” mean the name or designation that was first assigned the variety or hybrid by the person who developed it or the person who first introduced it for the production or sale after legal acquisition. These terms shall be used only to designate the varieties or hybrids to which they were first assigned;
30. “Record” includes all information relating to the shipment or shipments involved and includes a file sample of each lot of seed;
31. “Screenings” includes seed, inert matter and other materials removed from agricultural or vegetable seed by cleaning or conditioning;
32. “Seed offered for sale” means any seed or grain whether in bags, packets, bins, or other containers, exposed in sales rooms, storerooms, warehouses, or other places where seed is sold or delivered for seeding purposes, and shall be subject to this part, unless clearly labeled “not for sale as seed”;
33. “Seed seller” means a person who buys, sells, offers for sale, exposes for sale, distributes, or solicits orders for the sale of agricultural or vegetable seeds for seeding purposes, and includes any person who has seed grown under contract for resale for seeding purposes;
34. “Seizure” means a legal process carried out by court order in which the department takes physical possession of a definite amount of seed;
35. “Stop sale” means an administrative order provided by law restraining the sale, use, disposition and movement of a definite amount of seed;
36. “Tolerance” means the allowance for sampling variation specified under rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this part;
37. “Treated” means given an application of a substance or subjected to a process designed to reduce, control or repel disease organisms, insects or other pests that attack seeds or seedlings growing therefrom, or to improve the planting value of the seed;
38. “Ultimate consumer” means a person who purchases seed with no intention to resell the seed;
39. “Variety” means a subdivision of a kind that is:
    1. Distinct, in the sense that the variety clearly differs by one (1) or more identifiable, morphological, physiological or other characteristics, which may include those evidenced by processing or product characteristics; e.g., milling and baking characteristics in the case of wheat, as to which a difference in genealogy may contribute evidence, from all prior varieties of public knowledge;
    2. Uniform, in the sense that any variations are describable, predictable, and commercially acceptable; and
    3. Stable, in the sense that the variety, when sexually reproduced or reconstituted, will remain unchanged with regard to its essential and distinctive characteristics with a reasonable degree of reliability commensurate with that of varieties of the same category in which the same breeding method is employed;
40. “Vegetable seeds” includes the seeds of those crops that are grown in gardens or truck farms and are generally known and sold under the name of vegetable seed in this state; and
41. “Weed seeds” means the seeds, bulblets, or tubers of all plants generally recognized as weeds within this state and includes noxious-weed seeds.

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