Agriculture

1. Atoms for Food and Agriculture: Meeting the Challenge
Application of Nuclear Techniques
in Food and Agriculture
Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of
Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture

2. 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

3. Our Goals:
• Food Security
• Food Safety
• Sustainable Agriculture

4. Application in Food and Agriculture
Nuclear
Techniques
Insect Pest Control
by Sterile Insect Techniques
Plant Breeding & Genetics
by Mutation Techniques
Animal Production & Health
by RIA, ELISA, PCR, etc.
Soil & Water Management
& Crop Nutrition
by Isotopic and Nuclear Techniques
Food & Environmental
Protection
by Food Irradiation and Radio-
analytical Techniques

5. 1. Crop improvement by mutation techniques
• 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
Technical basis

6. - Higher yielding
- Disease-resistance
- Well-adapted
- Better nutrition
Mutant cultivars
Crop improvement by mutation techniques
no mutation
negative mutation

7. - Improving crop cultivars
- Enhancing biodiversity
- Increasing farmer’s income
Mutation techniques

8. MUTANT VARIETIES
Cereals 1206
Flowers 454
Legumes 203
Oil crops 198
Others 611
Total Number : 2672
Plant Species : 170
(2006)
Sources: FAO/IAEA Mutant Varieties Database
Crop improvement by mutation techniques

9. The impact of mutation induction in crop improvement is
measured in millions of ha and billions of $
Zhefu 802 (rice)
10.6 million ha
China
Baden-
Wurttemberg
& Bavaria
VND95-20 (rice)
280,000 ha
Vietnam
Saarland
Diamant (barley)
2.86 million ha
Europe
TAG24 (groundnut)
3 million ha
India
Thuringia
Schleswig-
Holstein

10. 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”

11. 2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management
Water
Soil
Crop Nutrition
Isotopic and nuclear
techniques

12. • 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).
Technical basis
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management

13. 31P
14N
32P
15N
31P
14N
13CO2
12CO2
13C
12C
18O 16O
31P
32P
13CO2
12CO2
16O
18O
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management

14. • Enhance the efficient and sustainable use of soil-water-
nutrient 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

15. 12CO2 (99%)
13CO2 (1%)
Plants can be grouped according to 13C
discrimination
C3 plants: d 13C = -26
(rice, wheat, forest, vegetation) (maize, sorghum, sugarcane,
some tropical herbs)
C4 plants: d 13C = -12
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management

16. FRN with precipitation (P)
Original soil level
Resulting soil level
Deposition site
137Cs > P
Erosion site
137Cs < P
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management

17. 2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management
 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.
Using isotopic and nuclear techniques, Agency supported
studies show that:

18. • 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
Technical basis

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

20. Insect
Pest
Population
Density
aerial release of sterile flies
ERADICATION
months
deployment of insecticide-
treated targets or traps
treatment of cattle with trypanocides
treatment of cattle with insecticides
Integrated Pest Management With SIT Component

21. Major Achievements
• 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
SIT developed and transferred to over 30 Member States with
substantial socio-economic impact:

22. 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

23. TSETSE ERADICATION PROJECT ETHIOPIA
(2000 – 2006)
0
10
20
30
%
Soddo Dilla Arbaminch
Disease prevalence
Preintervention Intervention
60% reduction in
disease prevalence
Block-1

24. 4. Animal Production & Health
• 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
Technical basis

25. 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

26. 4. Animal Production & Health
Label with isotope
e.g. 15N, 13C18
Feed to
livestock
Nutrients dispersed
throughout body
Tissue sampling to
assay isotope
distribution
Local
plant materials
Efficient Utilization of Locally Grown Feeds

27. Take blood
Analyze the result
Run ELISA
Protected
Vaccinate
Is this cow
vaccinated?
Use of isotope related techniques
in disease management

28. Combat Bird Flu
Combat Bird Flu
Reducing Health Risks
through the early,
rapid and sensitive
serological and
molecular detection
(such as ELISA and
PCR)

29. • 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
Major Achievements
4. Animal Production & Health

30. 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!
4. Animal Production & Health

31. 5. Food and Environmental Protection
• 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
Technical basis

32. Several energy sources can be
used to irradiate food
• Gamma Rays
• Electron Beams
• X-rays

33. 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

34. 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

35. Atoms for Food and Agriculture:
Meeting the Challenge