Re: unlike your typical UK green energy project
I didn't say it was massively successful. I said it was an interesting thing to read about.
The items quoted were from an article I found to add more information to my comment. However from what I've briefly read on the subject, it was more common than "someone somewhere".
But if you're going to be a dick about it, it has apparently had its successes:
"Ideally, some plants might develop mutations that could prove beneficial, and then be bred into normal plants.
A peppermint plant resistant to particular strains of wilt, for example, was bred using atomic gardening."
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"“Though poorly known, radiation breeding has produced thousands of useful mutants and a sizable fraction of the world’s crops, Dr. Lagoda said, including varieties of rice, wheat, barley, pears, peas, cotton, peppermint, sunflowers, peanuts, grapefruit, sesame, bananas, cassava and sorghum. The mutant wheat is used for bread and pasta and the mutant barley for beer and fine whiskey.
The mutations can improve yield, quality, taste, size and resistance to disease and can help plants adapt to diverse climates and conditions.”
If you’re wondering if you’ve ever consumed a grain, fruit, or vegetable that comes from an induced mutation, the answer is probably “Yes”. You might know that you have eaten a Rio Star graepfruit, or a “Gold Nijisseiki” Japanese pear. But you might be unaware that you’re consuming induced-mutation cultivars in the “Durum” wheat in your pasta, or the “Reimei” rice in your curry."
Biting the hand that feeds IT
