From:  Organic seeds production and differentiation from conventional systems: compositional signatures, analytical approaches and quality concerns

 Analytical targets (markers/parameters) found in literature for potentially distinguishing organic seeds and the analytical techniques and instrumentation used for obtaining them.

Seed tests Analytical techniques and instrumentationQuality markers/Quality featuresReferences
Physicochemical analysis/Physiological seed quality
Seed viability and vigourMachine visionSeed size, colour, shape, textureRahman & Cho, 2016 [44]
Seed germinationMulti and hyperspectral imagingSeed massTeles et al., 2019 [43]
Seed varietySoft X-ray imagingLipids, proteins, and carbohydrates contentShrestha et al., 2016 [51]
PurityThermal imagingMoisture percentageCaramês et al., 2025 [50]
Tetrazolium testsElectronic noseSpatial and spectral information of seeds
Chemical compositionMoisture analyzerSimple/complex odours associated with volatiles from seeds
Moisture contentTitration techniquesNumber of germinated seeds
Proximal analysisPhysicochemical analysisPhysiological traits
Disease presence
Damage by insects
Isotopic and elemental analysis
Stable isotope ratiosIsotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS)15N/14NLaursen et al., 2013 [57]
Macro-elements profilingInductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS)13C/12CWestermann et al., 2011 [63]
Trace elements analysisInductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES)18O/16OLaursen et al., 2014 [58]
Rare elements analysisNeutron-activation analysisMacro-elements profiling (Na, N, K, P, S)Ferrari et al., 2008 [61]
Trace-elements (Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn)Fattobene et al., 2024 [62]
Rare elements analysis (Br, Cs, Eu, K, Rb)Mihailova et al., 2014 [59]
Rossi et al., 2007 [60]
Spectroscopic methods
Seed varietyNuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)Metabolic Markers/fingerprinting (phytochemicals)Terskikh & Kermode, 2011; Terskikh et al., 2005 [69, 96]
Seed originFluorescence1H NMR analysisRadulescu et al., 2021 [76]
Oil, proteins, and carbohydrates contentRaman13C NMR analysisGordillo-Delgado et al., 2012 [77]
Moisture contentNon-chromatographic mass spectrometryPolyaromatic hydrocarbons and heterocycles compounds Borges Lopes et al., 2021 [77]
Physical and chemical seeds characteristicsMALDI-TOF-MS: Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-Of-Flight Mass SpectrometrySpatial and spectral information of seedsConsonni et al., 2018 [70]
DART-MS: Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry
Infrared spectroscopy
Near infrared (NIR)
Mid infrared (MIR)
Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR)
Chromatographic and omics analysis
Exploratory untargeted metabolome/lipidome/proteome analysisLC-MS and LC-MS/MSMetabolites/proteins/lipids fingerprintOliveira et al., 2024 [87]
Targeted metabolome/lipidome/proteome analysisGC-MS and GC-MS/MSMetabolic profiling (phytochemicals)Röhlig & Engel, 2010 [91]
OmicsMetabolites/proteins/lipids identification and markers (VOCs, phenolic compounds, vitamins)Liang et al., 2023 [88]
MetabolomicsBonte et al., 2014 [88]
LipidomicsVarunjikar et al., 2023 [90]
Proteomics