Blue Mountain coffee is an internationally renowned variety of Arabica coffee that is produced in Jamaica.
One focus of Jamaica's newly-established mutation breeding programme its Blue Mountain coffee, the internationally renowned variety of Arabica coffee; to counter the armful effect of a coffee leaf rust, a fungal disease that has ravaged coffee plants across the Caribbean since an initial outbreak in 2012, hamstringing production.
"Since a major outbreak in 2012, approximately one-third of Jamaica's Arabica coffee population has been affected, reducing yields and endangering export revenues," said Charah Watson, Executive Director of Jamaica's Scientific Research Council.
"The goal of our mutation breeding programme is to induce beneficial traits that can help overcome key production constraints. Using gamma irradiation, we aim to generate chromosomal changes that result in random yet useful DNA mutations. The desired traits include resistance to fungi and bacteria, reduced maturation time and improved insect resistance."
One Irradiator, Multiple Benefits
The irradiator has been installed in a purpose-built facility at the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Science (ICENS), a research facility of the University of the West Indies, which hosts the only research reactor in the Caribbean.
The new irradiator was procured by the IAEA through its technical cooperation programme and is now being used to also develop new varieties of ginger, yam and sweet potato - staple crops which not only contribute to food security in Jamaica but are also key national exports as irradiation can control spoilage and food-borne pathogenic mirco-organisms or insect pests without significantly affecting taste or smell.
"In the short term, this facility will be integral to our efforts in crop improvement and integrated vector management [for insect pests]," said Charles Grant, Director General of ICENS. "In the medium to long term, the multi-purpose irradiator will also be utilized for the shelf-life extension of seasonal crops and, in the health sector, we intend to make arrangements with the University Hospital of the West Indies to start sterilizing medical equipment and to assist with research on improving skin graft technologies."
Industrial irradiators can expose any product or piece of equipment to radiation. This technology has applications across a diverse range of disciplines, industries and research areas, including food preservation, medical device sterilization, materials modification and cultural heritage.
To help Jamaica leverage this valuable new tool to its fullest, before its installation, the IAEA led a series of national projects to build capacity in plant tissue culturing and screening - methods that would benefit from the irradiator. Alongside training courses and workshops, two research fellowships were created at the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre in Seibersdorf, Austria, which supported the development of new crop varieties using gamma and X-ray irradiation, as well as other advanced molecular techniques.
Nuclear Technology to Combat Insect Borne Threats
Nuclear technology is also helping Jamaica combat another growing threat to its economy and public health - insects. Jamaican crops are dogged by the West Indian fruit fly, a major pest of soft fruits like mangoes, plums and apples.
Meanwhile, the Aedes aegypti mosquito - carrier of the notorious Chikungunya virus- is a drain on public health. Chikungunya affects nearly half of the employed persons in the country, according to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica.
"The number of days people with Chikungunya were absent from work per year ranged from 1 to 30, with a mean of 4.9 days. Without counting the healthcare costs, this represents an annual loss in productivity amounting to €36 million," explained Grant.
Under an ongoing technical cooperation project, Jamaica is strengthening its capacities in mosquito mass-rearing and irradiation procedures to validate the sterile insect technique (SIT) as an efficient means of controlling disease-transmitting mosquitoes. Efforts are also being made to increase the mosquito mass-rearing capacity to allow the implementation of a field pilot trial.
"The use of the sterile insect technique to control Aedes aegypti mosquito populations, as part of an area-wide integrated pest management programme, can significantly reduce the impact of mosquito-borne diseases, thereby improving the quality of the lives of the citizens of Jamaica and the output of the nation," said Sherine Huntley-Jones, National Programme Manager for Vector Control in Jamaica's Ministry of Health and Wellness.
Strengthening Radiation Safety in Jamaica
Since the signature of its first Country Programme Framework in 2010, Jamaica has worked closely with the IAEA to lay the legislative and regulatory groundwork for the safe application of nuclear techniques to support its development goals. Over the last 15 years, Jamaican experts have received extensive training in radiation transport and waste safety, and other national counterparts have attended IAEA workshops to draft regulations governing the use of nuclear technology.
Jamaica has achieved several important milestones: the adoption of the national Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Act in 2015, followed by the establishment of its national regulatory authority, the Hazardous Substances Regulatory Authority, in 2020.
Going forward, the country is striving to ramp up its engagement with nuclear applications, including the sterile insect technique, mutation plant breeding, and non-destructive testing. The new multi-purpose gamma irradiator will help boost these efforts.
The sterilization of food exports, medical instruments and mass-reared pests are among the most common applications of industrial irradiators. (Photo: L. Potterton/IAEA)
