Over the past few decades, the level of radiation has significantly increased due to artificial sources – radionuclides. In particular, the Chernobyl accident led to the release of about 50 million Кі of various types of radionuclides into the environment. As a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, a large number of territories of the Zhytomyr region are polluted – 50%, Kiev – 26%. About 26% of the contaminated area falls on the Chernigov, Rivne, Sumy and Volyn regions. The radioactive substances that were part of the nuclear fuel were concentrated in the environment, from where they partially migrate along the soil-plant-living organisms chain, causing a number of negative changes in them. Immediately after the Chernobyl accident, iodine-131 posed a great danger to living organisms; its radioactivity in the contaminated area was 7.3 MКi. Iodine-131 is a beta and gamma emitter with a half-life of 8.04 days. This element is characterized by high activity in the soil-plant-production-organism system. It enters the body by the oral route and accumulates mainly in the thyroid gland. At the same time, cesium-134, cesium-137 and strontium-90 are also dangerous for living organisms, the share of which is about 3% of the total radioactivity. All other radionuclides that were released into the environment during the Chernobyl accident are less dangerous due to the low rate of entry into living organisms. Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30.2 years and is absorbed into the body in three ways: percutaneous, aerial and oral. The largest proportion of cesium-137 is ingested orally. It is a chemical analogue of potassium and is actively involved in the metabolic process. Therefore, it can accumulate in high amounts in body tissues. About 10% of cesium-137 is excreted from the body with indigestible food residues, and the vast majority - with urine. Cesium-137, penetrating into the body, is concentrated mainly in muscle tissue, and comparatively less in bone tissue. It is excreted from bone tissue much more slowly than from muscle tissue. Now in the environment there is still about 50% of cesium-137, which got into the environment as a result of the Chernobyl accident. Radionuclides in the soil are in a moving state, therefore they move to certain layers of it. The speed of such movement of radionuclides in the soil depends on its properties, the content of mineral and organic substances. In particular, it was revealed that the migration of cesium-137 on mineral sod-podzolic soils is ten times lower than on peat and peat-bog soils. This is typical of the soil of the ecological zone of Polesie. The composition of the soils of this zone includes no more than 1.0% of clay, 0.8-1.2% of humus, 3-5% of the silty fraction, causing a high migration of radionuclides. Cesium-137 in these soils is in the sod in a fast-moving form and rather intensively migrates into the vegetation. It has been proven that the mineral part and humus firmly fix cesium-137. The accident resulted in about 1,500,000 pollution in Ukraine. Hectares of forests, most of which have lost their practical value and are withdrawn from use. It has been established that the main amount of radionuclides is concentrated in the upper five-centimeter soil layer and in the forest litter, which is characteristic of pine forests. In pine forest stands, 30-60% strontium-90 and 40-80% cesium-137 are concentrated in the litter, and about a third of radionuclides are concentrated in deciduous forests. Most radionuclides enter plants by the root route. Some authors report that sometimes plants accumulate significantly more radionuclides, even with a lower content of them in the soil. This trend is observed in the Polesie of Ukraine. Over the past 15 years, the strontium-90 content in plant products has not changed significantly. Researchers have studied the peculiarities of the accumulation of radioactive substances by melliferous plants, which can actively accumulate cesium-137. Plants of the family Rosaceae, buckwheat, buttercups are classified as active accumulators of radiocesium. A high content of strontium-90 is characterized by silver cinquefoil, caustic buttercup, and such honey plants as red and white clover, alfalfa, horned lily, sainfoin and mouse peas, common heather, blueberries intensively accumulate both cesium-137 and strontium-90. The intensity of accumulation of cesium-137 in bee pollen, perge and homogenate of drone larvae produced by bees from pollen of winter rape, sunflower and buckwheat in different ways was studied.
The quality and safety of crop products, in particular nectar and pollen, which are raw materials for the production of beekeeping products, depends on the condition of the soil, its composition, the content of humus, minerals, the level of moisture, as well as the level of pollution with toxicants. Particular attention in the past few decades has been attributed to the problem of soil pollution by various toxicants, among which a high danger is posed by radionuclides that have entered the environment as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which led to the contamination of cesium-137 above 37 kBq/m2 461.7 thousand hectares of agricultural land, of which arable land - 345.9 thousand hectares. The largest areas of land contaminated with cesium-137 are located in Zhytomyrskaya (156 thousand hectares), Cherkasskaya (76 thousand hectares), Rivnenskaya (52 thousand hectares), Chernigovskaya (52 thousand hectares), Vinnytsia (50 thousand hectares), Kievskaya (34 thousand hectares) regions. In particular, in the Cherkassy and Vinnytsia regions in agricultural products, no excess of the permissible levels of contamination for this radionuclide has been revealed in recent years. The territories where there is a constant danger of contamination of soil and crop production with radionuclides, it is necessary to include, first of all, the northern regions of Polesie, which were most affected by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. According to the results of the studies, it was revealed that the specific activity of cesium-137 in honey and bee pollen obtained from nectar and pollen of winter rapeseed and sunflower on soils with a content of this radionuclide from 2305 Bq/kg to 2407 Bq/kg in the northern part of Zhytomyr region is not exceeds DR-2006. At the same time, when applying mineral fertilizers, an increase in the specific activity of cesium-137, its hazard coefficients and accumulation in honey and bee pollen when using ammonium nitrate is observed, while when using simple superphosphate, potassium chloride, a mixture of NPK fertilizers, these indicators decrease. In all variants, with the introduction of mineral fertilizers, in honey and bee pollen produced by bees from nectar and pollen of winter rapeseed and sunflower, no excess of DR-2006 was observed. The highest specific activity of cesium-137, its hazard coefficients and accumulation in honey and bee pollen produced by bees from nectar and pollen from winter rapeseed and sunflower, was found in the variant with soil fertilization with ammonium nitrate. A low effect of mineral fertilizers on the intensity of cesium-137 translocation in the soil – plant – nectar – honey – pollen – bee pollen chain was found when potassium chloride was used. When fertilizing the soil with potassium chloride in honey and bee pollen produced by bees from nectar and pollen of winter rapeseed, the specific activity of cesium-137 was lower than when fertilized with ammonium nitrate by 44.9% and 43.4%, simple superphosphate - by 18, 8% and 18.0% and a mixture of NPK fertilizers - by 12.8% and 24.0%. In honey and bee pollen produced by bees from sunflower when fertilizing soils with potassium chloride, the specific activity of cesium-137 was lower than when using ammonium nitrate by 50.6% and 53.1%, by 27.1% and 32.6%, and 7.2% and 67.7%, respectively.
The article presents the results of research on the influence of mineral soil fertilization on the intensity of radiocesium, lead and cadmium accumulation in sunflower pollen (bee pollen) produced in the conditions of northern Polissia. Providing the population with highquality food products is one of the main social tasks of today. Pollen is a vegetable raw material from which bees produce bee honey, perga and royal jelly, which have highly nutritious and healing properties, so they are successfully used in population nutrition and prevention of a number of diseases. Practice shows that the demand for this product is growing rapidly because it is a source of amino acids, vitamins, minerals and other biologically active substances. In connection with the wide range of use of this product in food and medicine, there is a need to control its quality and safety, especially in modern conditions of man-made load on nectar-pollen-bearing lands due to the high level of chemicalization in the field of crop production. The purpose of the research was to study the accumulation of radiocesium, lead and cadmium in sunflower pollen under mineral fertilization of soils in the conditions of Northern Polissia. It was established that the highest content of radiocesium, lead and cadmium in flower pollen was observed when the soil was fertilized with ammonium nitrate. In particular, in sunflower pollen, the specific activity of radiocesium was higher by 43.8 %, 2.1 times and 67.7 % after soil fertilization with ammonium nitrate; accumulation coefficient by 41.1%, 2.1 times, 67.7 %; the hazard coefficient is 44.2 %, 2.1 times, 66.6 % compared to simple superphosphate, potassium chloride and a mixture of NPK fertilizers. The concentration indicators, the accumulation coefficient, the danger coefficient of lead in sunflower pollen for soil fertilization with ammonium nitrate were higher in comparison with simple superphosphate by 2.0 times, 2.0 and 2.1 times; potassium chloride – by 66.6 %, 1.6 times and 66.6 %; with a mixture of NPK fertilizers – by 76.4 %, 77.7 % and 78.5 %. The concentration, accumulation coefficient, hazard coefficient of cadmium in sunflower pollen were higher when fertilized with ammonium nitrate in comparison with simple superphosphate by 2.2 times, 2.1 and 2.2 times, potassium chloride by 66.6 %, 68.4 %, 65 %; with a mixture of NPK fertilizers – 2.0 times, 2.0 and 2.0 times. Key words: radiocesium, heavy metals, lead, cadmium, mineral fertilizers, soil, sunflower, flower pollen, accumulation coefficient, hazard coefficient, concentration.
The quality and safety of beekeeping products depends primarily on the ecological condition of natural nectar-pollinating lands. It is known that nectar-pollinating lands after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were radioactively contaminated, which led to the accumulation of radionuclides in nectar, as well as in the product of its processing by bees - copper, in some cases above acceptable levels of cesium-137 16 nKi / kg (TAL - 91). This level of cesium-137 concentration was characteristic of honey produced by bees directly in the conditions of the northern Polissya of Ukraine within the Narodytsky, Ovruchsky and Polissya districts of the Zhytomyr region. In these areas of nectar-pollinating lands, in soils of which the specific activity of cesium-137 ranged from 1 Ki / km2 to 5 Ki / km2, levels were observed in honey that exceeded TAL - 91. It has been proved that the migration of cesium-137 into honey depends on the level of contamination of honey lands and the botanical origin of honey plants. The lowest content of radiocaesium immediately after the Chernobyl accident was found in dandelion and linden honey, and the highest - from legumes and honeysuckle of forest plantations, such as buckthorn, raspberry, ivan tea. A relatively high content of radiocaesium was found in honey produced by bees from thyme and heather, even in areas where the content of cesium-137 was higher than 1 Ki / km2. As a result of the research, it was found that the production of honey from winter oilseed rape and sunflower in terms of nectar-pollinating agricultural land returned to agricultural production after 34 years after the Chernobyl accident with a specific activity of cesium-137 in soil up to 2.47 Ki / km2 is safe. The specific activity of cesium-137 in such pollution was lower than TAL-2006 in honey produced by bees from winter rape and sunflower, respectively 11 times and 8.2 times. In honey produced by bees from the nectar of winter rape, there was a lower concentration of cesium-137 in 1.14 times compared to sunflower honey.
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