| Summary: | Agricultural land use in the area of the post-Chernobyl Plavsk radioactive hotspot (Tula region, Central Russia) has raised a problem of radioecological safety of obtained plant foodstuff. Verification of 137Cs activities and inventories in components of “soil-plant” systems of the territory has been conducted in 2014–2017 in 10 agrosystems and 2 semi-natural meadows. It was revealed that density of 137Cs contamination of arable chernozems and alluvial calcareous soils nowadays varies in a range 140–220 kBq/m2 and exceeds radiation safety standard by ˜ 3.5–6 times. Deep plowing of the arable soils up to 30-cm in 1986–1987 resulted in decreasing of 137Cs inventories in rooting zone by ≈ 70% for crops cultivated with shallow disk plowing (wheat, barley), and by ≈ 35% for crops cultivated with middle plowing (buckwheat, amaranth, white mustard). The investigated plants and their compartments can be grouped on the basis of transfer factor values as follows: maize (stems and leaves) > amaranth > bromegrass > vegetation of dry meadow, galega, sunflower (seeds), vegetation of wet meadow > maize (grain), soybean (pods), barley (grain), buckwheat (grain), potatoes (tubers) > white mustard (seeds), wheat (grain). It is noticeable that generative plant compartments are characterized by less 137Cs activities in comparison with stems and leaves; and that 137Cs root uptake is not coincide with total flux of mineral nutrients in “soil-plant” systems. In sum, 137Cs soil-to-plant transfer in the area of the Plavsk radioactive hotspot is characterized by considerable discrimination, so 137Cs activities in plants are completely in accordance with national standards. Keywords: Radioactive soil contamination, Caesium-137 137Cs, Arable soils, “Soil-plant” system, Chernobyl accident, Radioecologically safe land use
|
|---|
