To meet the needs of the world's ever-growing population, an increase in crop 
production is essential. Radiation has helped to enhance the productivity and 
efficiency of the world's agriculture industry mainly in two ways, genetic 
improvements and pest control:




   Genetic improvements

    The food that we eat, including cereals, green 
    vegetables and fruits are all selectively means 
    that only plants with desirable characteristics are 
    chosen and developed. With the help of radiation, 
    the traditional method of selective breeding has been 
    greatly improved. 

    By exposing the reproductive parts of crops such as the 
    pollen grains or ovaries, or the whole plant, to a certain dose 
    of x-rays or gamma rays, genetic mutations are induced. Although most of the induced 
    mutations are harmful, very few of them are advantageous. Those mutated crops with 
    desirable characteristics may be used immediately or may be further improved by 
    crossing with existing varieties. More than 1,000 kinds of crops in daily consumption are
    developed using radiation-induced mutagenesis, including barley in Europe, rice in 
    California and durum wheat in Italy.


   Pest Control
  Pests, which cause drastic damage to crops, have been a big problem to
  farmers. By rearing pests artificially and exposing them to radiation, 
  sterile pests, which are healthy in all other aspects, are developed. These 
  sterile insects are then released to the area to be treated, when the sterile 
  population will mate with the wild population, resulting in a reduction in 
  the number of offspring. This method is proved successful in controlling 
  the population of Mediterranean fruit fly, the screwworm fly in Florida and 
                                  the Southern part of America, and the tsetse fly in Africa.


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