The International Atomic Energy Agency is hoping that, given the current food crisis, countries will revive their interest in mutation induction -- a technique that has been in use since the 1920s -- to produce improved high-yielding plants that adapt to harsh climate conditions such as drought or flood, or that are resistant to certain diseases and insect pests.

The technique, which the IAEA insists is "safe, proven and cost effective", uses radiation to alter genetic material in crop plants to boost output and disease resistance.

Selective mutation can also help crops adapt to changing climates and conditions.

"The global nature of the food crisis is unprecedented. Families all around the world are struggling to feed themselves," said IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.

"To provide sustainable, long-term solutions, we must make use of all available resources. Selecting the crops that are better able to feed us is one of humankind's oldest sciences. But we've neglected to give it the support and investment it requires for universal application. The IAEA is urging a revival of nuclear crop breeding technologies to help tackle world hunger."

Earlier this year, the IAEA hosted an International Symposium on Induced Mutations in Plants, which brought together some 600 plant scientists, researchers and breeders from around the world.

Some 3,000 mutant varieties from 170 plant species spread over 60 countries -- including cereals, pulses, oil, root and tuber crops -- are currently cataloged in a seed database jointly run by the IAEA and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Unlike bio-engineered genetic modification, induced mutation does not splice foreign genes into the plant, but rather reorganises its existing genetic material, said the head of plant breeding and genetics at the IAEA, Pierre Lagoda.

"Spontaneous mutations are the motor of evolution," he said.

"If we could live millions of years and survey billions of hectares (acres) of land with 100 percent precision, we would find variants with all of the traits we're looking for but which have mutated naturally.

"But we can't wait millions of years to find the plants that are necessary now, if we want to feed the world. So with induced mutation, we are actively speeding up the process."

No residual radiation is left on the plant, according to Lagoda. And because the technique mimics nature, it has encountered less resistance than genetically modified organisms (GMOs), derided by critics as potentially dangerous "Frankenfoods".

"We're not producing anything that is not produced by nature itself," Lagoda said.

Induced mutation would not solve the world's food crisis on its own, but it was "a very efficient tool, to the global agricultural community to broaden the adaptability of crops in the face of climate change, rising prices, and soils that lack fertility or have other major problems," Lagoda said.

The technology was inexpensive, said the head of the FAO/IAEA Joint Division Plant Breeding Unit in Seibersdorf, Austria, Chikelu Mba.

"Investment would be required in training people, in enhancing the capacity of member states to have scientists who will take up plant breeding as a profession and work on problems within their own countries," Mba said.

Indeed, the return on investment was huge. Japan, for example, has invested 69 million dollars (55 million euros) in its plant breeding infrastructure over the past 40 years, but the returns were something like 62 billion dollars, Mba said.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News