Use of radiation in food and agriculture

Ensuring the food and nutritional security for the growing population of our country requires enhancement of food production and storage using advanced and affordable technologies. There is a need to develop new crop varieties having desirable traits such as higher yield, better disease/pest tolerance and resistance to abiotic stress. The development of improved and climate-resilient crop varieties using conventional breeding techniques depends on the inherent genetic variability of the crops. However, the genetic variability of a given plant can be enhanced by artificial induction of mutations using ionizing radiation. In India, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai has done substantial amount of work in mutation breeding aimed at the production of high-yielding and disease-resistant varieties of crops, especially oilseeds and pulses. Similarly, radiation technologies have been developed for the preservation and shelf-life extension of agricultural produce and food safety especially in controlling insect pests and micro­bes in food to prevent spoilage. Thus the nuclear techno­logies continue to make substantial contribution to food safety and security.