Uranium, Thorium, Potassium, and Cesium Radionuclides Concentrations in Desert Truffles from the Governorate of Samawah in Southern Iraq

Abstract

Studies have been conducted in some southern Iraqi governorates to measure the radioactive contamination in the soil and have revealed that these areas are contaminated with radioactive materials. In these test sites, where many military operations have been conducted and that may have been affected by the Chernobyl accident, pollution and its impact on the truffle crop have been examined. Truffles are fungi that grow in the ground and can be contaminated by radiation from polluted soil. Uranium, thorium, potassium, and cesium activities were analyzed in truffles collected from the desert of Samawah governorate in the southern part of Iraq, and the results were compared with global values. The radionuclide activities were measured with a high-purity germanium detector. The average activities of U,Th, K, andCs were 3.9500, 2.5300, 260.36, and 1.7800 Bq kg dry biomass, respectively. These results indicate that radionuclide activities are low and that desert truffles are suitable for human consumption.

A Review of the Occurrence of Alpha-Emitting Radionuclides in Wild Mushrooms

“…However, significant differences between uranium and thorium activity concentrations have been reported. In the case of thorium, the highest activity concentrations of 228 Th and 232 Th have been noticed in Brazil, with the lowest in Poland [73,76,78,[83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91]. In the case of uranium, the highest activity concentrations of the alpha emitters 234 U, 235 U and 238 U have been reported in mushrooms from Germany, Turkey, Finland, and Slovakia [60,61,86,88,90], with the lowest being in Poland, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as China (Yunnan) and New Zealand [58,62,70,71,78,83,84,89,[91][92][93][94][95].…”

“…In the case of thorium, the highest activity concentrations of 228 Th and 232 Th have been noticed in Brazil, with the lowest in Poland [73,76,78,[83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91]. In the case of uranium, the highest activity concentrations of the alpha emitters 234 U, 235 U and 238 U have been reported in mushrooms from Germany, Turkey, Finland, and Slovakia [60,61,86,88,90], with the lowest being in Poland, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as China (Yunnan) and New Zealand [58,62,70,71,78,83,84,89,[91][92][93][94][95]. If the uranium activity is compared to its daughter nuclide, 226 Ra, the maximum radium activity concentration is always higher than the activity of the parent ( 238 U).…”

“…The increase in radium activity concentration might be due to the chemical similarities with calcium, in much the same way as polonium is physically and chemically an analog of the chalcogen elements (group 16 of the periodic table) [58,67,96]. However, the reported data have shown that mushrooms may bioaccumulate 234 U and 238 U more effectively than 230 Th and 232 Th, while both elements (U and Th) were bio-excluded (bioaccumulation factor values in the range from 0.005 to 0.19) [86,89,91].…”

Subacute Toxicity of Brown Truffle (Terfezia claveryi) on Sprague-Dawley Rats

“…Truffles are the subterranean fruiting parts of wild fungi that grow naturally under the ground without human intervention (1). They form ectendomycorrhizal symbiotic associations with plants of the Helianthemum genus (2).…”

Farklı Kurutma Tekniklerinin Keme Mantarının (Terfezia boudieri Chatin) Özelliklerine Etkileri

“…Ascomycetes sınıfına ait türüf mantarları yabani mantarlar arasında bilinen ve yoğun tüketilen mantarlardır [8]. Bu mantarlar şubat ve nisan ayları arasında yağışları takiben ortaya çıkmaktadırlar [9]. İran, Irak, Kuveyt ve Türkiye'de, Orta Doğu ve Kuzey Afrika'da (Mısır, Cezayir, Tunus ve Fas), Güney Avrupa'da (Fransa, İspanya, Yunanistan ve İtalya) ve diğer Akdeniz'e komşu ülkelerde (Libya, Suriye) bakir topraklarda büyük miktarlarda doğal olarak yetişme ortamı bulurlar [10].…”