Naturally occurring radionuclide transfer from soil to vegetables in some farmlands in Ghana and statistical analysis

• Main Authors: Theophilus Adjirackor, Emmanuel Ofori Darko, Frederic Sam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2017-01-01
• Series: Radiation Protection and Environment
• Subjects: Fertilized soil; natural radioactivity; transfer factor; unfertilized soil; vegetables
• Online Access: http://www.rpe.org.in/article.asp?issn=0972-0464;year=2017;volume=40;issue=1;spage=34;epage=43;aulast=Adjirackor

Distribution studies of natural radionuclides in soil, statistical analysis of activity concentrations, and transfer factors (TFs) from soil to the vegetables grown in some selected farming communities within the Greater Accra Region in Ghana were carried out. The measurements were carried out through a gamma-ray spectrometry. The mean activity concentrations of 226Ra, 228Ra, and 40K in the fertilized soils were 20.0 ± 3.9 Bq/kg, 39.0 ± 7.0 Bq/kg, and 143.6 ± 23.3 Bq/kg, respectively. For the nonfertilized soils, mean activity concentrations were found to be 12.07 ± 2.55 Bq/kg for 226Ra, 27.1 ± 6.3 Bq/kg for 228Ra, and 87.8 ± 18.5 Bq/kg for 40K. These results were compared with reported ranges in the literature from other location in the world. The TF for 226Ra, 228Ra, and 40K from fertilized soil to vegetables was evaluated. 226Ra TF values from fertilized soil to vegetables were found to be higher in lettuce in Farm 6. The highest TF for 40K and 228Ra was found in cauliflower in Farm 4. 40K TF was higher than those values reported in other studies. The activity concentration in fertilized and unfertilized soil exhibited slightly positively skewed, negatively skewed, leptokurtic, and platykurtic distribution in terms of skewness and kurtosis. The activity concentration of natural radionuclides in fertilized and unfertilized soil is statistically insignificant at 5% level of significance using independent t-test. Pearson's correlation coefficient exhibited a negative correlation between 226Ra and 228Ra in fertilized soil and 226Ra and 228Ra in vegetables but was statistically insignificant while 40K in fertilized soil exhibited a positive correlation with 40K in vegetables and was statistically significant at 5% level of significance with a coefficient of determination of 1%, 61%, and 10% for 226Ra, 40K, and 228Ra, respectively.