Comparison of the accumulation of 137Cs and 90Sr by six spring wheat varieties

Abstract

The uptake of (137)Cs and (90)Sr by six varieties of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) was compared in field trials on land contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. All the experimental varieties are officially adopted for agricultural use in Belarus and are used in large-scale production. Under identical conditions of nutrition, the productivity of the varieties varied significantly by a factor of 1.3. The extent of (137)Cs and (90)Sr accumulation by wheat grain, quantified as the concentration ratio, differed between the varieties by as much as a factor of 1.6, for both radionuclides. There was a significant linear positive correlation between the (90)Sr activity concentration in grain and straw, and the calcium concentration. The correlation between (137)Cs and potassium was not significant. The results suggest that certain varieties of spring wheat used in normal agricultural practice accumulate less (137)Cs and (90)Sr into grain than others. Some spring wheat varieties accumulated relatively less (137)Cs, but did not accumulate less (90)Sr. One variety, Quattro, had a significantly lower uptake of both (90)Sr (for grain) and (137)Cs (for both grain and straw) than that of the other varieties tested. The reduction efficiency achieved by the use of these varieties, however, is not as high as that achieved by soil amelioration techniques in the past. Nevertheless, since there are no additional costs or production losses associated with these varieties, their use in the contaminated areas is worth considering as a simple, practical, and effective contribution to reducing the uptake of both (90)Sr and (137)Cs and allowing farmers to produce food-grade grain.

Caesium and strontium accumulation in shoots of Arabidopsis thaliana: genetic and physiological aspects

“…Among distinct varieties of wheat and maize a genetic variation in Cs + enrichment was observed by a factor of 1.5–3.1 (Schimmack et al , 2004; Putyatin et al , 2006; Schneider et al , 2008). Similar to this study, Payne et al (2004) detected a natural genetic variation in Cs + concentration by a factor of 2 in shoots of Arabidopsis .…”

“…For Sr 2+ , the genetic variation for enrichment was monitored as well. Within different wheat varieties, a 1.6–2.6-fold variation in Sr 2+ concentration was detected (Gerstmann and Schimmack, 2006; Putyatin et al , 2006). To date, no comparable data about Sr 2+ concentration have been available for Arabidopsis thaliana shoots, but the ascertained natural variation of a factor of 2.1 fitted to the data known for other species.…”

“…Recent studies of different plant species as well as plant varieties have shown a huge variation in the uptake of 137 Cs and 90 Sr. Among distinct varieties within Poaceae species (rye, maize, wheat, and barley), for example, a variation of 1.5–4.3-fold for Cs + accumulation and 1.6–4.6-fold for Sr 2+ accumulation was described (Rasmusson et al , 1963; Prister et al , 1992; Schimmack et al , 2004; Gerstmann and Schimmack, 2006; Putyatin et al , 2006; Schneider et al , 2008). Among different plant families, the reported variation in Cs + accumulation can be up to 100-fold higher than the variation within different varieties (Broadley et al , 1999).…”

Inter-varietal variation in caesium and strontium uptake by plants: a meta-analysis

“…However, this was not the case for oats. Rasmusson et al (1963) found that the barley (H. vulgare) variety with the lowest (Podolyak, 2007); (þ ¼ Meadow clover (Podolyak, 2007); D ¼ Pea (Shirshov and Shain, 1971); # ¼ Potato (Green et al, 1996); ⊠ ¼ Wheat grain (Putyatin et al, 2006); -¼ Wheat straw (Putyatin et al, 2006); , ¼ White clover (Podolyak, 2007) and (b) stable caesium and strontium concentrations in plants (-¼ Brassica oleracea (Bibak et al, 1999); : ¼ Lettuce (Melnitchouck and Hodson, 2004); * ¼ Onion (Ariyama et al, 2006)). Note that only concentration ratio data are shown on this graph e there are additional activity concentration data.…”

Intra-cultivar variability of the soil-to-grain transfer of fallout 137Cs and 90Sr for winter wheat

“…Recent studies on the root uptake of fallout 90 Sr and 137 Cs by various wheat cultivars have demonstrated considerable differences between the cultivars (Schimmack et al, 2004;Gerstmann and Schimmack, 2006;Putyatin et al, 2006). These studies were aimed at finding wheat cultivars with minimum root uptake of radionuclides in order to use them on areas highly contaminated by radionuclides as present in the 30 km zone of the Chernobyl power plant since 1986.…”