Lok Sabha Question No. 2297 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-12
Subject: DAE's Efforts for Agricultural Sector
Ministry: ATOMIC ENERGY
Asked by: Shri Gajendra  Singh Patel, Shri Ravindra Shukla Alias Ravi Kishan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - 2297 ANSWERED ON 12/03/2025

## DAE'S EFFORTS FOR AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

## 2297.  SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH PATEL SHRI RAVINDRA SHUKLA ALIAS RAVI KISHAN

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is contributing to the agricultural sector; and
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the achievements of DAE in the said sector?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS AND PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a) & (b) Yes,  Department  of  Atomic  Energy  (DAE) has  contributed  significantly  to  the field  of  agriculture  through  its  research  and  development  in  deployment  of radiation technology.  Radiation technologies are used in agricultural research to develop improved crop varieties, to manage insects/pests, to study fertilizer use efficiency & plant micronutrient uptake and also to preserve agricultural produce. The details of the achievements in the field of agriculture are mentioned below:

## 1. Development of High-Yielding Crop Varieties :

Using  radiation  induced  mutagenesis  along  with  cross  breeding,  Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) a constituent Unit of DAE, has developed 70 (seventy) crop varieties of pulses (tur dal, urdbean, mungbean, pigeonpea,  cowpea),  oilseeds  (mustard,  groundnut,  sunflower,  soybean, sesame),  and  cereals  (wheat,  rice,  barley,  jowar,  bajra,  maize)  etc.  which have been Gazette notified and released for commercial cultivation in the country.  These  crop  varieties  have  desirable  traits  such  as  high  yield, disease resistance, early maturity, climate resilience, biotic & abiotic stress tolerance etc. and thus benefited farmers in drought-prone and low-fertility regions.

## 2. Radiation-Based Food Preservation (Food Irradiation) :

Radiation technology developed by BARC is used to extend the shelf life of perishable  food  products,  mitigate  post  harvesting  and  storage  losses  of agriculture produce enhancing food security. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been developed involving gamma irradiation and subsequent  storage  in  controlled  environment  for  shelf-life  extension  of onion  and  potatoes  up  to  7.5  months  and  8  months  respectively  while retaining the quality attributes.  Large-scale trials have been carried out for the  same.    SOPs  involving  radiation  technology  has  been  successfully demonstrated to extend the shelf life of mangoes to facilitate export through sea route. SOPs  for shelf-life extension of cereals, wheat, spices, mushroom, fruits and vegetables such as green tomato, broccoli have also been developed.

Food  preservation  technologies  for  jamun  product,  sprouts  &  sweet  corn kernels  and  ready-to-eat  (RTE)  intermediate  moisture  (IM)  fruits  cubes were  developed  and  technologies  were  transferred  to  different  firms  for commercial deployment.  These technologies are also published on BARC website for technology transfer on non-exclusive basis at nominal cost.

Till  date  twenty-eight  (28)  irradiation  plants  based  on  BARC  developed technology have been set-up in the country.

3. Litchi  Treatment  plant  based  upon  BARC  technology  was  set-up  at National Research Centre on Litchi, ICAR located at Mushahari, Muzaffarpur, Bihar. An Indian patent has been awarded to this technology which increases the shelf-life of litchi up to 60 days.

## 4. Soil & Water Management

:

Radioisotope  techniques  developed  by  BARC  helps  in  efficient  water resource management, soil fertility improvement, and groundwater conservation. Nuclear techniques improve fertilizer use efficiency, reduce excessive usage of chemical fertilizers and pollution.

5. Pest Control through Nuclear Techniques :

Radiation-based sterile insect technique (SIT) has been developed at BARC, Mumbai, for the management of insect pests like red palm weevil of coconut and other palms, potato tuber moth of potato crop.

## 6. 'SHIVAY'- Sheetal Vahak Yantra :

Raja  Ramanna  Centre  for  Advanced  Technology  (RRCAT)  a  constituent Unit  of  DAE  has  developed  a  technology  named  'SHIVAY'-  Sheetal Vahak Yantra for transportation of perishable fruits and vegetables under combination  of  controlled  temperature,  humidity  and  inert  atmosphere  to maintain freshness during transportation. The system is successfully tested for about 4000 km of road trials. This technology uses Liquid Nitrogen for cooling  which  is  a  by-product  of  Oxygen  plants.  India  has  an  excess capacity of production of 35 Lac ltr./day of Liquid Nitrogen.  Farmers can access far off markets even 1000 km away with same freshness at a very low refrigeration cost of Rs.1/kg. The technology is 100% eco-friendly with no  consumption  of  Diesel  or  Electricity  for  cooling,  resulting  no  carbon footprint.

7. RRCAT  has  developed 10 MeV  electron linac and electron beam processing facility at Indore. This facility is useful in providing irradiation dose  for  carrying  out  experiments  on  agricultural  produce  and  seed  crop samples.  RRCAT  has  provided  electron  beam  irradiation  and  dosimetry services  for  mutation breeding experiments on large number of crop seed varieties  to  ICAR  institutes  and  BARC,  Mumbai.  The  irradiated  seed samples  included  rice,  ground  nut,  gram,  millet,  cowpea,  lobia,  pigeon pea(tuar),  mungbean,  uridbean  pulses,  soybean,  garden  pea  and  garlic cloves.  RRCAT  has  also  provided  electron  beam  processing  services  for experiments on phytosanitary applications on rice and millet samples.

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