| Show ATOMS AND agriculture i isotope paw to n N help farm iam I am income n C 0 M op not only did the atomic bomb ex plo at hiroshima and nagasaki reveal the presence of a new and terrible war weapon but they also may have ushered in an era of greater progress and prosperity fity tor for the american farmer researchers at oregon state col lege in corvallis Corval hs currently are con ducting experiments which they be lieve may add millions of dolar dollar worth of produce to the nation nations s yield in agricultural products key to that expanded production is the radioactive isotope a by prod act of nuclear fission which is be ing used in experiments that reach into every field of natural science but abot oregon state college and washington state college at pull full man major experimental emphasis Is placed on agriculture investigation of the application ot of the atom to agriculture has been given impetus by the estimate of william W waymack member of the atomic energy commission and des moines iowa newspaper pub lisher that radioactive isotopes may be instrumental in increasing farm production in the U S by mil lion dollars in one year over a pe nod of 10 years such an increase would pay for the two billion dol lars spent on developing atomic energy during the war value of the isotope to agrical tural research Is similar to that in other fields of research its radio activity permits its use as a tracer through the organisms of plants and animals applied in fertilizers to the soil its progress can be traced in the living plant providing a me daum for the understanding of plant life and nutrition nevet before avail able several isotopes are being used to study soil chemistry of potash in the hope of finding more eff effect ec tive ways of furnishing nutrition to crops another is being utilized to study the effects of application of lime to the soil still other areas of research may yield important knowledge on absorption by gr grain of phosphate and chlorine from the earth |
