Seedless grapefruit from nuclear technology

Since 2007, the Dalat Nuclear Research Center has cooperated with the Southeast Fruit Research Center and the Dong Nai Department of Science and Technology to conduct nuclear energy irradiation to create a new grapefruit variety with unique characteristics, meeting new technical requirements.

Tan Trieu seedless grapefruit is created from nuclear technology.

After more than 5 years of research and implementation of the project of producing Tan Trieu orange-leaf pomelo (Dong Nai) using nuclear energy irradiation technology to create a new seedless variety, positive results have been achieved.

Dong Nai Department of Science and Technology said that to obtain three varieties of seedless grapefruit, scientists brought 1,000 disease-free orange-leaf grapefruit branches to the Da Lat nuclear reactor to be irradiated with a cobalt-60 radioactive source.

After irradiation, these 1,000 branches were grafted onto 1,000 mother grapefruit trees from the Tan Trieu grapefruit area to select the superior variety with the fewest seeds. From the 1,000 trees, the research team selected three varieties with seedless fruits: ĐLC240, ĐLC434 and ĐLC436. The Dalat Nuclear Research Institute determined that the Tan Trieu orange-leaf grapefruit variety is a branded fruit.

To obtain three seedless grapefruit varieties, scientists brought 1,000 disease-free orange-leaf grapefruit branches to the Da Lat nuclear reactor for irradiation.

Previously, Tan Trieu people only developed grapefruit areas on a small scale, in the form of households with an area of ​​about 200 hectares. However, up to now, this place has developed into a concentrated grapefruit area of ​​nearly 900 hectares in the area of ​​8 communes along the Dong Nai River in Vinh Cuu district.

In May 2011, the Technical Center for Standards and Quality Measurement 3 awarded GlobalGAP and VietGAP certificates to Tan Trieu grapefruit growers. Of these, 5 households with an area of ​​6.7 hectares achieved GlobalGAP certification and 11 households with an area of ​​3.1 hectares achieved VietGAP certification.

The advantage of this technology in agriculture is to create new varieties with good quality and high yield. At the same time, it helps farmers to better preserve agricultural products after harvest.

According to assessment, the application of nuclear technology in agricultural production is a new type, however, experts believe that atomic energy is the key for the domestic agricultural sector to go far not only in gene mutation, creating new varieties but also improving post-harvest processing and preservation to meet technical barriers and bring agricultural products abroad.

Dr. Tran Chi Thanh, Director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, said that Dong Nai province has recently boldly invested in the application of nuclear technology in agricultural production and has achieved positive results. Dong Nai is also implementing the construction of an irradiation center located in the Biotechnology Application Center in Cam My district. When put into operation, the Center will take on the role of irradiation, to help farmers preserve post-harvest and eliminate pathogens on agricultural products.

According to the assessment of scientists in the field of atomic energy, the initial success in agricultural production in the direction of applying high technology through the cooperation between the Department of Science and Technology of Dong Nai, the Da Lat Nuclear Research Center and the Southeast Fruit Tree Research Center in the past time has brought positive results, this will be a new development direction for our country's agricultural sector in the coming time.

According to Nongnghiep.vn