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 Sustainable agricultural

development, improved
peace, health and
nutrition and food security
prosperity

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 Plant Breeding & Genetics

by RIA, ELISA, PCR, etc. Nuclear by Mutation Techniques
Techniques

Soil & Water Management Food & Environmental

& Crop Nutrition Protection
by Isotopic and Nuclear Techniques by Food Irradiation and Radio-
analytical 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 $

Schleswig- Zhefu 802 (rice)

Holstein 10.6 million ha
China
TAG24 (groundnut)
3 million ha
India
Diamant (barley)
2.86 million ha
Europe
Thuringia VND95-20 (rice)
280,000 ha
Vietnam

Baden-
Saarland Wurttemberg
& Bavaria
 VND99-3 VND95-20
High quality for export High quality
Short duration (100 days) Tolerance to salinity
Key rice variety for export
3 rice harvests per year in
the Mekong Delta “National Prize of Science
and Technology of Viet
Nam 2005” for its
“significant socio-
economic 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 Water
techniques

Crop Nutrition
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
14N
15N

32P 31P
16O

13CO
2
18O
12CO
2

18O 16O

13C

12C
2. Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management

• 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

Plants can be grouped according to 13C

discrimination

C3 plants: d 13C = -26 C4 plants: d 13C = -12

12CO (99%)
2

13CO (1%)
2

(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 Original soil level

137Cs >P
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

Sterile
Wild

No
Offspring
(BIRTH CONTROL)
Integrated Pest Management With SIT Component
Insect Pest Population Density

deployment of insecticide-
treated 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

Sample DNA Identify superior

Measure productivity (blood, hair, milk) 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
Label with isotope assay isotope
e.g. 15N, 13C18 distribution
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 OVERCOME

QUARANTINE MANGOS
HYGIENE
BARRIERS
GRAPES
SHRIMP
MEAT

FOOD
SPICES SAFETY TRADE ORANGES CUT FLOWERS
CHICKEN
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