Atomic Gardening is also known as "mutation breeding" and is done by exposing plants to radioactive sources. The result of this is over two thousand new varieties of plants, some that were disease or cold-resistant, and lots of unusual colors. This process started after World War II when scientists were trying to find peaceful ways to use atomic energy. Most experiments are conducted in Gamma Gardens in national US laboratories. One product of this gardening is the "Rio Star" grapefruit, now about 75% of grapefruits in Texas are produced in atomic gardens. Although atomic gardens seem to have been really helpful, most modern genetic engineering has replaced the need for atomic gardens, and probably the only surviving garden lies in Japan, carried forward by the Institute of Radiation Breeding. This garden, located in Hitachiōmiya in Ibaraki Prefecture, is 100 meters wide and enclosed in an 8-meter tall dike wall. Gamma rays come from a cobalt-60 source in a center pole from inside the garden to irradiate (expose to radiation) species. Their goal is to develop new traits in the plants to help meet demands for new crop varieties. Atomic Gardening is often compared to taking a hammer to the genes 
of the plant and hoping for a helpful mutation, whereas genetic mutation today is more like taking a scalpel to their genes.Sources: http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/03/atomic-gardening-breeding-plants-with.html
How do you think that these types of fruits have affected the agriculture of these places that use atomic gardening? Do you know how many different types of radiation can be used? Maybe with different types of radiation, they can manipulate different types of fruits to keep creating more unique traits.
ReplyDeleteIt looks as though atomic gardening has enhanced agriculture and food supply and has come in handy with climate change. From the research that I've done, the only type of radiation they mention using is gamma radiation. The amount of radiation is what really affects what type of unique traits it develops.
DeleteI think that it's really interesting that we kind of see a converging of the two subjects that we are studying at the moment (biochemistry and nuclear chemistry) through this topic. From what I understand, we see the effects (whether it be direct or from the advancements it spurred) of this curious method nearly everyday through some of the food we consume. At a nuclear level, it really is amazing and when you look at it from a biological level it seems as an even greater change. It's honestly a really cool concept and a great real world application of nuclear chemistry. However, I would be curious to see how exactly the process translates to other organisms.
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