At the Advanced Radiation Research Institute of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute located in Jeongeup-si, Jeollabuk-do. Upon visiting on the 17th, entering a glass greenhouse spanning 660m², over 200 pots of lettuce were seen moving in line on a conveyor belt.
The size and shape of the lettuce varied. Some reached a height of 1m, while others were only 20cm. The pots, moving in line, entered a tunnel on the right side of the glass greenhouse and stayed inside for about 3 minutes before being automatically released. Kim Sang-hoon, head of the Radiation Breeding Research Laboratory, explained, "The lettuce pots enter the tunnel once or twice daily to be precisely inspected by state-of-the-art cameras to determine if they are superior 'radiation breeding' varieties."
Plant radiation breeding is a technology that creates new traits rarely seen in nature by irradiating embryos, seeds, and seeds. As the climate crisis threatens human survival, developing national strategic crops that thrive in extreme climates is urgent. Radiation breeding is a simple development process and does not involve gene modification or manipulation, so radiation-bred crops are already actively sold in markets in Europe, Japan, and India.
On this day, the appearance of over 200 lettuces in the glass greenhouse was all slightly different. Surprisingly, the seeds of all the lettuce were planted in the pots on the same day, August 18. Even the same lettuce can produce various varieties depending on the speed, time, and direction of radiation exposure.
Read more at DBR