"Atomic Spaghetti.” Durum Wheat and Mutation Breeding in Italy (1950s–1970s)

Established in 1960 near Rome and supported by the US Atomic Energy Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Casaccia Center for Nuclear Studies played a fundamental role in transforming what became known as “mutation breeding” from an uncertain set of technologies into a robust area of research and development at both the national and international levels. At the time, there was a struggle for authority over plant breeding between the advocates of using nuclear energy and those advocating more cost-effective methods such as pedigree selection or hybridization. The Casaccia Center strategically implemented a research program based on two crucial elements: first, the use of the “gamma field,” a circular area with a retractable gamma-ray source in the middle, where growing plants could be exposed to chronic irradiation; and second, the launch of a broad mutation breeding program of durum wheat, typically used for pasta making. Drawing from a variety of archival sources, this article shows how both programs were instrumental in legitimizing and bolstering the use of the “peaceful atom” in agriculture on a national and global scale.