China becomes biggest winner of UN plant mutation breeding prize

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency jointly awarded the Plant mutation breeding Award in Vienna on the 24th. The Chinese scientific research team became the biggest winner of this award, winning an outstanding achievement award and three achievement awards.

The award was awarded on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Joint Food and Agricultural applications Division of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization / International Atomic Energy Agency for the contribution of researchers to international food security. The radiation mutation breeding team of Jiangsu Lixiahe Agricultural Science Research Institute of Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences won the Outstanding Achievement Award for its outstanding contribution in this field, and the other three Chinese scientific research teams all won the Achievement Award.

Liang Kui, director of the Joint Food and Agriculture Application Division of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization / International Atomic Energy Agency, said that plant mutation breeding technology is safe and effective and has certain advantages over other breeding methods. I firmly believe that this technology will make a great contribution to international food and China's food security in the future.

Plant mutation breeding is to use nuclear radiation to accelerate the genetic variation of organisms, so as to cultivate high-quality food crop varieties with the characteristics of high yield, disease resistance and drought resistance. at present, more than 100 countries in the world have used this technology to improve food and cash crops.

Liang said that according to incomplete statistics, using this technology, a total of 3218 mutant crop varieties have been cultivated worldwide, of which nearly 1/4 have been cultivated by Chinese scientists, and Chinese scientists have made outstanding contributions in this field.

It is understood that nuclear technology has many applications in the field of agriculture, including not only mutation breeding, but also pest control and other uses. in recent years, researchers have used irradiation technology to cultivate male sterile insects. some important pests that endanger agricultural production have been successfully prevented and killed. Liang said that through efforts, researchers have used this technology to eliminate fruit flies in the border area between the United States and Mexico, and spiral flies in the Mediterranean region, and are currently studying mosquito control techniques.