Nuclear uses in agriculture

1
Nuclear uses in agriculture

• Luis Eduardo Estrada
• ME337D

2
Main uses

• Food irradiation
• Plant breeding
• Soil and water studies
• Insect / pest control

3
Food Irradiation

• Gamma, x-ray and beta particle irradiation
• Preserves meat and produce for longer periods of
  time by eliminating bacteria and microorganisms.

4
Plant breeding

• Modify the genetic makeup of seeds to achieve
  different strains of genetically enhanced plants.
• Achieve higher yield, high climate tolerance,
  faster growth, immunity against pests.

5
Plant breeding cont.

• Develop saline-tolerant rice varieties.
• Development of disease-tolerant bananas
• Higher yield crops for corn, wheat, soy, etc.
• Genetically induced changes in the size of many
  fruits.

6
Soil and water studies

• Fertilizer intake tracing by isotope ratio
  detection ( 15-N, 13-C, 34-S, 18-O)
• Allows for better fertilizer use to achieve
  biggest intake with least amount of fertilizer
• Water intake measurements by isotope ratio
  detection (18-O and deuterium)
• Detects intake source and quantity.

7
Insect / pest control

• Sterile Insect Technique (SIT)
• Used as suppression, containment and prevention
  techniques.
• Works by irradiating large amounts of the target
  insect with gamma or beta radiation to make it
  sterile.
• Released to the environment so they mate without
  releasing offspring.
• Great reduction in need of pesticides.

8
Myths

• Irradiated food is radioactive
• Genetically enhanced food is unnatural and
  dangerous
• Sterile Insect technique makes the pests
  radioactive.