In countries where seasonal changes cause extreme weather conditions such as drought, rising temperatures, or famine, some nuclear techniques are being implemented to improve crops and make them more resilient.
Conventional rice crops take 140-150 days to mature, so there is a long time between harvests, increasing the risk of crop damage from disease, hail, and drought.
A mutant rice variety, using the nuclear technique of ‘mutation breeding’, has higher yields and shorter maturity periods of 110-120 days, leaving an additional 30-35 days for the growth of other crops and vegetables. This has increased incomes for farmers and their families and increased rice production in the country. These techniques have also been applied to beans, lentils, etc.
In the case of coastal areas, farmers face the problem of salinity and degradation that are not suitable for traditional crops. With nuclear techniques, other mutants have been created that have made it possible to grow crops in these areas.
In the face of climate change, farmers are becoming aware of the importance of nuclear technology for the development of these varieties to be prepared to combat the effects of the changing climate on agricultural development.
The next step is to improve the quality of crops and make them more nutritious, for example in countries in Bangladesh that have serious health problems due to zinc and iron deficiencies, especially in lactating mothers and infants. If they lack these micronutrients during pregnancy, after birth they may suffer from other diseases and children may be born with disabilities.
These techniques are already being used in countries such as Cuba, Pakistan, the Philippines, Tanzania, Senegal, Bangladesh, Venezuela, etc.
What is mutation breeding?
This involves exposing seeds, cuttings, or crushed plant leaves to radiation (e.g. gamma rays) and then plating the seed or growing the irradiated material in a sterile rooting medium, which produces a seedling. The different plants are then multiplied and their traits are studied.
Molecular marker-assisted breeding, or marker-assisted selection, is used to accelerate the selection of plants carrying genes of interest (for the desired traits) and these are the ones that are further cultivated.
This technique does not involve the modification of genes, but rather makes use of the plant's genetic resources and mimics the natural process of spontaneous mutation, which is the driving force of evolution and which otherwise takes hundreds of millions of years. By using radiation, scientists can significantly reduce the time it takes to observe beneficial variations to just one year.
In short, with appropriate screening techniques, they locate certain traits to address essential needs, such as plants tolerant to high levels of soil salinity or resistant to certain pests. In this way, a new variety can be validated for use in record time.
