Radiation breeding is a field of mutation breeding, and its advantages include 1) the creation of new traits that did not exist before, 2) the improvement of target traits without damaging the traits of varieties, and 3) the improvement of vegetative propagation crops and crops that are difficult to breed.
Since its established in 1960 as the Institute of Radiation Breeding, the Radiation Breeding Laboratory had been a leading mutation breeding research in Japan and had been breeding various mutant varieties such as the Japanese pear variety 'Gold Nijisseiki'. In addition, we carried out joint research by collaborating with universities, national and public research institutes, private companies, etc. and mutation breeding research by commissioned irradiation. In recent years, with the advancement of genomics research in crops as a background, materials created by mutation were also being used for gene functional analysis research.
Irradiation services were terminated in FY2022.
The Radiation Breeding Laboratory was decommissioned on September 30, 2025.
Please also see the following Japanese documents.
Hiroyuki SATO
The role of the NARO Radiation Breeding Laboratory in the development of breeding science. JATAFF J. 11(9): 3-7, 2023
https://www.jataff.or.jp/books/order/journal/JATAFFjvol11.html#JATAFFj11-09
