Business · 31 July 2026
How does nuclear science make strawberries hardier?
Image by retrosesos on Freepik
Gamma irradiation from India's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is being used by Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth university to breed a climate-resilient strawberry, breaking total reliance on imported plant varieties. About 85% of India's strawberries grow near Mahabaleshwar, a hill town over 1,000 metres up in western India. The breeding project is expected to take between 10 and 15 years, university researchers say.
Reported by BBC · How we write briefs