Application of nuclear technology in agriculture

In 2007, the Dalat Nuclear Research Center in collaboration with the Southeast Fruit Tree Research Center and the Department of Science and Technology of Dong Nai province started to use nuclear energy irradiation to create a new grapefruit variety that is representative, unique and meets the world's technical requirements.

After more than 5 years of research and implementation of the project to produce Tan Trieu orange-leaf pomelo varieties, Dong Nai using nuclear energy irradiation technology to create new seedless varieties, positive results have been achieved. Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Van Sang, Director of Dong Nai Department of Science and Technology, said that to obtain three seedless pomelo varieties, scientists brought 1,000 disease-free orange-leaf pomelo branches to the Da Lat nuclear reactor to irradiate with a cobalt 60 radioactive source.

After irradiation, these 1,000 branches were grafted with 1,000 mother grapefruit trees from Tan Trieu grapefruit area, Dong Nai, then the superior variety with the fewest seeds was selected. From these thousand trees, the research team selected three varieties with seedless fruits including: ĐLC240, ĐLC434 and ĐLC436. Master Le Van Thuc, an officer of the Dalat Nuclear Research Institute, who directly participated in the project, said that the Tan Trieu orange-leaf grapefruit variety is a branded fruit.

Therefore, the goal of Dong Nai province as well as the research team is to create a new grapefruit variety of Tan Trieu orange-leaf grapefruit, to create stability and provide the best quality to meet strict international technical barriers in order to bring this fruit not only for domestic consumption but also for export.

Master Thuc said that according to international standards, a grapefruit with less than five seeds is considered seedless. And the three grapefruit varieties above have met the technical requirements set by international regulations. Currently, these grapefruit varieties have produced fruit from one to two seasons per year.

The research team is currently working with people in Tan Trieu grapefruit area, Dong Nai to plant 30 hectares and have already harvested. Tan Trieu grapefruit is the first fruit brand of Dong Nai province to be recognized by the Vietnam Intellectual Property Office since the end of 2006.

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 3.1 hectares achieved VietGap.

Tan Trieu grapefruit, Dong Nai.

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

Dong Nai province has boldly invested in the field of applying nuclear technology to agricultural production and has achieved positive results. Currently, this locality is also implementing the construction of an irradiation center located in the Center for Biotechnology Application in Cam My district.

When put into use, the above Irradiation 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 province, 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 Tintuc