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Joint FAO/IAEA Programme
About the Programme

Facts about the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme

General
Q: 'Nuclear' in what sense?
Animal Production and Health (APH)
Q: Which nuclear techniques can be used in animal production research for enhancing livestock productivity?
Q: Which molecular techniques can be used in animal production research for enhancing livestock productivity?
» On Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
Plant Breeding and Genetics (PBG)
Q: To which extent is radiation used in plant breeding today?
Q: How do induced mutants compare to spontaneous mutants in crop improvement?
There is no difference between artificially produced induced mutants and spontaneous mutants found in nature. Compared to cross-breeding, special care is taken in selecting homozygous, non-chimerical mutant lines when working with artificially induced mutants. To achieve this, induced mutants are passed through several generations of selfing (in order to achieve homozygosity); or clonal propagation, usually through in vitro techniques (in order to dissociate chimeras). This is exactly what happens in nature (through evolution) and leads to the fixation of the mutation events. All that plant breeders do is mimic nature in this regard. It should also be noted that in most cases, the induced mutants are merely "raw materials" that in order for their potentials to be realized must be integrated into established breeding schemes through hybridizations and repeated backcrosses. Like in all such processes that involve crossing, care should be taken to eliminate linkage drags of agronomically unfavorable alleles as such mediocre or undesirable alleles could show up in subsequent generations through segregation.
Q: What's the role of marker-aided selection (MAS) in crop improvement in LIFDCs?
Q: What are the current and future trends in Plant Breeding?
Insect Pest Control (IPC)
Q: Are Sterile Insects that have been Irradiated Radioactive?
Q: Is the SIT a stand-alone technology?
Q: Is Eradication Necessary when Using the Sterile Insect Technique?
Soil and Water Management & Crop Nutrition (SWMCN)
Q: What isotopic and nuclear techniques are commonly used to study soil and water management and crop nutrition?
Q: I would be interested in receiving training in the use of nuclear techniques to evaluate water management and crop nutrition. How should I proceed?