Nuclear techniques in agriculture

Radiation and radioisotopes are extensively used in peaceful applications of nuclear energy. Agriculture ranks among the most important fields where such applications are widely used for societal benefits. Primarily, nuclear techniques are used to induce genetic variability in crop plants with the objective of producing mutant varieties with desirable traits like enhanced yield, better abiotic/biotic stress tolerance, resistance to pest/disease attack, early maturity, seed size and coat colour, resistance to lodging and improved nutritional characteristics. Apart from this, radiation can also be used to control pests (for example, using sterile insect technique) and reduce post-harvest losses in agricultural produce. Radioisotopes are used to study fertilizer use efficiency and improve plant micronutrient uptake. Using radiation induced mutation breeding as a tool, BARC has developed more than 40 mutant varieties of crops that include oil seeds (ground nut, mustard, soybean and sunflower), pulses (pigeon pea, black gram, green gram and cowpea), rice and jute, which have been released for commercial cultivation throughout India. The Trombay varieties enjoy considerable patronage among the farming community and have made significant contributions to the agriculture sector in our country. The mutation breeding programme of BARC is complemented by advances made in allied areas of molecular markers, marker assisted selection, micropropagation and development of transgenic plants. Efforts are being made to characterize mutant germplasm for better understanding of the genetic basis of various traits, so that the knowledge can be used for trait modification. Nuclear techniques will continue to play a major role in addressing the issues of food and nutritional security of the country. The presentation will give an overview of the activities of the Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division of BARC. (author)