New Breakthroughs in Plant Mutation Breeding Prominent Among the Top Ten Scientific Research Advances in China in 2019

On 7 August 2020, the Chinese Society of Nuclear Agriculture Sciences released new developments during 2019 in China, including the wide cultivation of the new mutant wheat variety Luyuan 502, release of the new mutant rice variety with low cadmium accumulation, hosting of the first workshop of the Mutation Breeding Network for the Asia Pacific Region, and the award of the CAAS-IAEA Collaboration Center. These were among ten final achievements nominated for award to fully represent the main progress of agricultural application of nuclear technology in China in 2019. Nominations were made after a process of preliminary selection, academic review and recommendation. China has long been the leading country for plant mutation breeding projects supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the Asia Pacific Region, and has made remarkable achievements in the development of new and improved crop mutant germplasm resources, and the large-area cultivation of new mutant varieties.