Application of Nuclear Techniques
in Food and Agriculture
Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of
Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture
Atoms for Food and Agriculture: Meeting the Challenge
Corporate Mission
Atomic energy for
peace, health and
prosperity
Sustainable agricultural
development, improved
nutrition and food security
to contribute to sustainable
food security and safety by
use of nuclear techniques
and biotechnology
Our Goals:
• Food Security
• Food Safety
• Sustainable Agriculture
Application in Food and Agriculture
Insect Pest Control
by Sterile Insect Techniques
Animal Production & Health
by RIA, ELISA, PCR, etc.
Plant Breeding & Genetics
Nuclear
Techniques
by Mutation Techniques
Soil & Water Management
& Crop Nutrition
Food & Environmental
Protection
by Isotopic and Nuclear Techniques
by Food Irradiation and Radioanalytical Techniques
1. Crop improvement by mutation techniques
Technical basis
• Variation is the source of evolution
• Spontaneous mutation rate is 1×10-8 ~ 1×10-5
• 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 mutants are not GMOs, as there is no
introduction of foreign hereditary material into induced
mutants
Crop improvement by mutation techniques
negative mutation
Mutant cultivars
-
Higher yielding
Disease-resistance
Well-adapted
Better nutrition
no mutation
Mutation techniques
- Improving crop cultivars
- Enhancing biodiversity
- Increasing farmer’s income
Crop improvement by mutation techniques
MUTANT VARIETIES
(2006)
Total Number : 2672
Plant Species :
170
Others 611
Legumes 203
Oil crops 198
Cereals 1206
Flowers 454
Sources: FAO/IAEA Mutant Varieties Database
The impact of mutation induction in crop improvement is
measured in millions of ha and billions of $
SchleswigHolstein
Thuringia
BadenSaarland Wurttemberg
& Bavaria
Zhefu 802 (rice)
10.6 million ha
China
TAG24 (groundnut)
3 million ha
India
Diamant (barley)
2.86 million ha
Europe
VND95-20 (rice)
280,000 ha
Vietnam
VND99-3
High quality for export
Short duration (100 days)
3 rice harvests per year in
the Mekong Delta
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 socioeconomic contribution”
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.
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management
Soil
Isotopic and nuclear
techniques
Crop Nutrition
Water
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management
Technical basis
• Both stable and radioactive isotopes can be used as
tracers in soil and water management & crop nutrition.
• Isotopes are atoms with:
– the same chemical properties, but different atomic
weight (mass number).
– the same number of protons but different neutrons.
– different mass number (atomic weight).
• Isotopes can be either stable or radioactive
– stable isotopes: different masses (18O and 16O).
– radioactive isotopes: radioactive decay (32P).
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management
14N
32P
31P
31P
13CO
2
12CO
2
15N
32P
14N
31P
16O
13CO
2
18O
12CO
2
18O
13C
12C
16O
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management
• Enhance the efficient and sustainable use of soil-waternutrient resources.
• Quantify Biological Nitrogen Fixation.
• Minimize effects of soil erosion and degradation.
• Enhance water use efficiency by crops.
• Select drought and salt-tolerant crops.
• Evaluate effects of crop residue incorporation on soil
stabilization and fertility enhancement.
• Track and quantify off-site water (nutrients) losses beyond
the plant rooting zone.
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management
Plants can be grouped according to 13C
discrimination
C3 plants: d 13C = -26
12CO
2
C4 plants: d 13C = -12
(99%)
13CO
2
(1%)
(rice, wheat, forest, vegetation)
(maize, sorghum, sugarcane,
some tropical herbs)
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management
FRN with precipitation (P)
Resulting soil level
Erosion site
137Cs < P
Deposition site
137Cs
>P
Original soil level
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management
Using isotopic and nuclear techniques, Agency supported
studies show that:
 Soil conservation measures improved land productivity
and reduced soil erosion rates by 55-90% in Chile, China,
Morocco, Romania and Vietnam.
 Improved yield and revenue by 25-50% while reduced
water use by the same extent in Chile, Jordan, Syria and
Uzbekistan.
 10-15 % increase in P utilization efficiency in Mexico and
Burkina Faso.
 30% increase in BNF through improved soil and crop
management practices and genotype selection in Asia
and Africa.
3. Insect Pest Control by SIT
Technical basis
• 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
– inundative releases mostly by air
– matings result in no offspring
• SIT integrated with other pest control methods is applied
for suppression, containment, or even eradication.
3. Insect Pest Control by SIT
Gamma Radiation
Sterile
Wild
No
Offspring
(BIRTH CONTROL)
Sterile
Insect Pest Population Density
Integrated Pest Management With SIT Component
deployment of insecticidetreated targets or traps
treatment of cattle with trypanocides
treatment of cattle with insecticides
aerial release of sterile flies
ERADICATION
months
Major Achievements
SIT developed and transferred to over 30 Member States with
substantial socio-economic impact:
• In Chile, fruit and vegetable exports have climbed to US
$1.6 billion in 2005 as a result of fruit fly-free status.
• Medfly-free status in Mexico translates to annual savings
of US $2 billion in reduced crop losses and pesticide costs,
and access to export markets.
• In Zanzibar, eradication of tsetse and trypanosomiasis
resulted in very significant increases of meat and milk
production, as well as crop productivity
Exports of bell peppers and tomatoes
from Central America to the USA (2004-2006)
Fruit fly free areas
(FFFA)
FFFA in progress
Overcoming phytosanitary trade barriers to facilitate access of
high-value crops to lucrative export markets
TSETSE ERADICATION PROJECT ETHIOPIA
(2000 – 2006)
Disease prevalence
30
20
%
10
Block-1
0
Soddo
Dilla
Arbaminch
Preintervention Intervention
60% reduction in
disease prevalence
4. Animal Production & Health
Technical basis
• RIA is used to measure the presence of the reproductive
hormone progesterone through immunological definition
• Isotope I-125 is used as a label to enable the immunological
reaction to be assayed
• Disease diagnosis using molecular tools (PCR-ELISA)
• DNA assisted selection for productivity and disease resistance
• Production of safe standard reagents by irradiation
• Evaluation of locally available feeds to overcome nutritional
deficiencies
4. Animal Production & Health
DNA-Assisted Selection
80 cm
Measure productivity
Sample DNA
(blood, hair, milk)
Identify superior
genes
Develop nuclear-related
test for selection and breeding
4. Animal Production & Health
Efficient Utilization of Locally Grown Feeds
Local
plant materials
Feed to
livestock
Tissue sampling to
assay isotope
distribution
Label with isotope
e.g. 15N, 13C18
Nutrients dispersed
throughout body
Use of isotope related techniques
in disease management
Is this cow
vaccinated?
Take blood
Run ELISA
Vaccinate
Protected
Analyze the result
Combat Bird Flu
Reducing Health Risks
through the early,
rapid and sensitive
serological and
molecular detection
(such as ELISA and
PCR)
4. Animal Production & Health
Major Achievements
• Diagnostic technologies developed and transferred to
more then 70 Member States
– Rinderpest, Brucellosis, FMD, CBPP, Newcastle Disease,
Trypanosomiasis
• Network for DNA analysis established in Asia
• Diagnostic Standards available for FMD, with other
diseases in pipeline
• Specific feeding regimes developed in more than 30
Member States
4. Animal Production & Health
Pan African Rinderpest Campaign
• IAEA was involved in the development and validation of
ELISA tests, the training of veterinarians and equipping
Member State laboratories
–
–
–
–
–
Established diagnostic capacity
Introduced epidemiology
Sero-monitoring to verify vaccination coverage
Surveillance to monitor outbreaks
Epidemiological surveys to declare freedom of disease
• Rinderpest is today nearly eradicated worldwide!
5. Food and Environmental Protection
Technical basis
• 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.
• Isotopic techniques are employed to monitor foods for
contamination with agrochemicals
– optimizing sample preparation by radioisotopes
– detecting contaminant by electron capture detector
Several energy sources can be
used to irradiate food
• Gamma Rays
• Electron Beams
• X-rays
Food Irradiation
Codex General Standard
for Irradiated Foods
ENSURE FOOD
HYGIENE
MEAT
CHICKEN
OVERCOME
QUARANTINE
BARRIERS
SHRIMP
SPICES
FOOD
SAFETY
TRADE
MANGOS
GRAPES
ORANGES CUT FLOWERS
Application of Food Irradiation
• More than 60 countries permit the application of
irradiation in over 50 different foods
• An estimated 500,000 tons of food are irradiated
annually
• About 180 Cobalt-60 irradiation facilities and a
dozen electron beam (EB) machines are used to
treat foods worldwide
• More and more countries accept the use of
irradiation as a phytosanitary measure
Atoms for Food and Agriculture:
Meeting the Challenge