Application of Radiation Sources in Agriculture

1. IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency
Application of Radiation Sources in
Agriculture
Day 6 – Lecture 6

2. IAEA 2
To learn about the use of ionization radiation in
Agriculture to improve the quality and yield of
crops and fruits and their preservation
Objective

3. IAEA 3
Contents
 Crop Improvement by Mutation
 Insect Control
 Food Preservation
 Fertilizers
 Water Resources
 Animal Production and Health
.

4. IAEA 4
Food & Agriculture
A billion people go to bed hungry every night and tens of
thousands die daily from hunger and hunger related
causes. Radioisotopes and radiation used in food and
agriculture are helping to reduce these tragic figures.

5. IAEA 5
Crop improvement by mutation
techniques
• Ionising radiation is used in plant breeding to produce
new genetic lines. Some examples have been sorghum,
garlic, wheat, bananas, beans, avocado and peppers.
The new lines are more resistant to pests and more
adaptable to harsh climatic conditions.
Genetic Variability

6. IAEA 6
Crop improvement by mutation
techniques (Cont.)
• Radiation can cause genetic changes in living organisms
and increase mutation rate up to 1×10-5 ~ 1×10-2
• Induced mutation is useful for crop improvement
Induced Mutation: mutation that is produced by treatment
with a physical or chemical agent that affects the
deoxyribonucleic acid molecules of a living organism.
• Induced mutants are not GMOs (Genetically Modified
Food), as there is no introduction of foreign hereditary
material into induced mutants.
Technical basis

7. IAEA 7
- Higher yielding
- Disease-resistance
- Well-adapted
- Better nutrition
Mutant cultivars
Crop improvement by mutation
techniques (Cont.)
no mutation
negative
mutation

8. IAEA 8
- Improving crop cultivars
- Enhancing biodiversity
- Increasing farmer’s income
Crop improvement by
mutation techniques (Cont.)

9. IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency
VND99-3
High quality for export
Short duration (100 days)
3 rice harvests per year in the
Mekong Delta
8 new high quality rice mutant
varieties have been developed
and adopted by farmers in
Vietnam, where rice export is one
of their main revenues.
VND95-20
High quality
Tolerance to salinity
Key rice variety for export
“National Prize of Science and
Technology of Viet Nam 2005” for
its “significant socio-economic
contribution”

10. IAEA 10
• While some insects are important for maintaining
the natural ecological balance, others destroy
valuable food crops. Some insects such as the
mosquito and tsetse fly are vectors of infectious
diseases. It has been estimated that, for the world
as a whole, crop losses caused by insects may
amount to as much as 10 per cent of the total
harvest, an amount equal to the total harvest of a
country such as the USA or the USSR.
Insect Pest Control by Sterile Insect
Techniques (SIT)

11. IAEA 11
• The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) consists of
irradiating laboratory-reared male insects before
hatching to sterilise them then releasing them in
large numbers in the infested areas. When they
mate with females, no offspring are produced.
With repeated releases of sterilised males, the
population of the insect pest in a given area is
drastically reduced.
Insect Pest Control by Sterile Insect
Techniques (Cont.)

12. IAEA 12
• Radiation is used to induce lethal mutations in
chromosomes of insect pests to cause sterility.
• Sterile males are released into the wild where they
compete with wild males for matings with wild females.
• SIT relies on:
• mass production of the target pest
• sterilization and shipment
• In-undative releases mostly by air
• matings result in no offspring
• SIT integrated with other pest control methods is
applied for suppression, containment, or even
eradication.
Insect Pest Control by Sterile Insect
Techniques (Cont.)
Technical basis

13. Gamma Radiation
No
Offspring
(BIRTH CONTROL)
Insect Pest Control by SIT
Sterile
Sterile
Wild

14. IAEA 14
Insect Pest Control by Sterile Insect
Techniques (Cont.)
Few Examples:
• The first successful SIT application was made on the
screw-worm fly, a troublesome pest that lives in the wounds
of warm-bodied animals, particularly livestock. Male screw-
worm flies were reared and sterilized by radiation and
released on the Caribbean island of Curacao. Within a few
breeding cycles, the pest virtually disappeared from this
island.
• Later SIT used to control the screw-worm fly in Florida,
where cattle losses due to that fly had reached a figure of
more than 25 million US dollars a year.

15. IAEA 15
Insect Pest Control by Sterile Insect
Techniques (Cont.)
• A great research effort was made into the
Mediterranean fruit fly, which proved to be another
success in Capri and other islands Recently, an
isolated pocket of Mediterranean fruit fly infestation
was eradicated in California by first using
insecticides followed by SIT and the method is now
being used in Central America on a large scale
with support from the Joint FAO/IAEA Division and
its Laboratory. The melon fruit fly was similarly
eradicated from the island of Rota in the South
Pacific.

16. IAEA 16
Food and Irradiation
• In a hungry world, it is too great a luxury to lose 25 to 30
per cent of the harvested foods to spoilage by microbes
and pests. What is even more regrettable is that these
losses are largest in developing countries. Often an
extension of shelf life of certain foods (i.e. fish and fruit) of a
few days is enough to save them from spoiling.
• More than 25 years have passed since radiation was found
to be applicable to extend the shelf life of certain foods.
Since then, great efforts have been made to test the
wholesome-ness of radiation-processed food In the 25
years of testing such foods, no harmful effects to animals or
humans have been found.

17. IAEA 17
Food and Irradiation (Cont.)
Food Preservation
 25-30% of food lost due to spoilage and pests
 irradiation technology can be used to preserve food
 More than 40 countries have approved food irradiation
(spices, grains, grain products, fruit, vegetables and meat)

18. IAEA 18
Food and Irradiation (Cont.)
Food Preservation
 astronauts eat foods preserved by irradiation
 worldwide standard adopted in 1983
 concerns about food-borne diseases and international
trade in foodstuffs
 Radiation also used to sterilise food packaging (milk
cartons)

19. IAEA 19
Food and Irradiation (Cont.)
• Food irradiation is the
treatment of food by
ionizing radiation
• Radiation at appropriate
doses can kill harmful
pests, bacteria, or
parasites, and extend
shelf-life of foods
Technical basis

20. IAEA 20
Several energy sources
can be used to irradiate
food
• Gamma Rays
• Electron Beams
• X-rays
Food and Irradiation (Cont.)

21. IAEA 21
Food and Irradiation (Cont.)
• The choice of a irradiator facility and
radiation source depends on some
practical aspects of the treatment process
viz. required absorbed dose, material
thickness (bulk product), processing rate
etc.
• Capital and Operating costs and also the
availability of the technology/ back up
etc.
Choice

22. IAEA 22
Effects of various doses on food
Dosage level
• Low dose(1kGy)
• Medium dose(1-10kGy)
• High dose(10-50kGy)
Effects
• Sprout inhibition
• Delay ripening
• Insect disinfestations
• Reduction of pathogenic
microorganisms
• Reduction of spoilage
microorganisms
• Delay ripening
• Sterilization
• Functional modification

23. IAEA 23
Food Irradiation
Codex General Standard for
Irradiated Foods
ENSURE FOOD
HYGIENE
OVERCOME
QUARANTINE
BARRIERS
FOOD
SAFETY TRADE
MEAT
SHRIMP
CHICKEN
GRAPES
MANGOS
ORANGES CUT FLOWERS
SPICES

24. IAEA 24
'labeled' with a radioactive isotope, such as 15N and
32P, provide a means of finding out how much is taken
up by the plant and how much is lost.
Fertilizers

25. IAEA 25
31P
14N
32P
15N
31P
14N
13CO2
12CO2
13C
12C
18O 16O
31P
32P
13CO2
12CO2
16O
18O
Fertilizers (Cont.)

26. IAEA 26
Fertilizers (Cont.)
Few Examples:
In one country that took part in a research programme on
nitrogen fertilization of maize, which was organized by the
Joint FAO/IAEA Division, it was estimated that the benefit to
that country amounted to 36 million US dollars per year after
its farmers had adopted the findings of the research
programme for the most efficient placement of fertilizer.
In a similar programme involving coconut palms in Sri
Lanka, it was found that the efficient use of fertilizer not only
yielded direct savings in the cost of fertilizer but also an
estimated potential saving in production cost.

27. IAEA 27
Fertilizers (Cont.)
Similar programmes on crops such as rice
have yielded savings of millions of dollars in
decreased fertilizer costs. Additional savings
are also possible.
A group of experts recently estimated that
up to 50 per cent of the fertilizer used at
present in all countries could be saved by
improved fertilizer, better water management
and better cropping methods.

28. IAEA 28
Animal Production And Health
• In many regions of the world animal production is
limited by poor growth, reproductive performance
and milk output of livestock, which limits the
availability of animal products such as meat, milk,
eggs, fibres, leather, etc. for use by man. Reduced
animal production results from inadequate or
unbalanced nutrition, lack of adaptation to the
prevailing climatic conditions, and parasitic and
other diseases.