From Classical Radiation to Modern Radiation: Past, Present, and Future of Radiation Mutation Breeding

Radiation mutation breeding has been used for nearly 100 years and has successfully improved crops by increasing genetic variation. Global food production is facing a series of challenges, such as rapid population growth, environmental pollution and climate change. How to feed the world's enormous human population poses great challenges to breeders. Although advanced technologies, such as gene editing, have provided effective ways to breed varieties, by editing a single or multiple specific target genes, enhancing germplasm diversity through mutation is still indispensable in modern and classical radiation breeding because it is more likely to produce random mutations in the whole genome. In this short review, the current status of classical radiation, accelerated particle and space radiation mutation breeding is discussed, and the molecular mechanisms of radiation-induced mutation are demonstrated. This review also looks into the future development of radiation mutation breeding, hoping to deepen our understanding and provide new vitality for the further development of radiation mutation breeding.

Application of Organic Fertilizer in Sidenuk Varieties to Reduce Using Urea

Sidenuk rice is a superior rice variety produced by BATAN through a radiation mutation technique. The new varieties that have been produced need to be supported by efforts to optimize production through fertilization technology. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of organic fertilizer which can increase growth, production and reduce the use of urea fertilizer in lowland rice optimally. The study was conducted using a completely randomized design. Each was repeated 4 times so that the total experimental unit (pot) was 32 rice pots. The treatments include (1) Control (without urea fertilizer), (2) Control (+) 100% urea, (3) 50% urea, (4) Local microorganisms (MOL), (5) Compost, (6) Biochar , (7) Azolla, (8) Mol + Compost + Biochar + Azola + SP 36 and KCl. The results showed that the highest grain weight was found in the 100% urea treatment, which was 43.97 g plant-1. MKBA treatment (MOL fertilizer, compost, biochar, azolla) showed values that were not significantly different from 100% urea treatment. Organic fertilizer formula (MOL fertilizer, compost, biochar, azolla) can reduce the use of urea fertilizer by 50%.