Absorption and transport characteristics of strontium onto three kinds of vegetables grown in the soil

Abstract

Objective To explore the transport properties of the radionuclide strontium 90Sr in the soil-plant system, and discuss the accumulation characteristics of strontiumes in different vegetable tissues. Methods Three kinds of vegetables, including Chinese cabbage, radish and celery, were planted in this experiments using stable nuclide 88Sr instead of 90Sr. Strontium concentrations in these kinds of plant and soil were measured with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), and the transportation factor (TF) of strontium and the concentration ratio (CR) of these plants were calculated. Results The contents of strontium in different tissues of the vegetables increased significantly in response to the strontium concentrations in soil (F=3.75-139.39, P<0.05). The contents of strontium at 398.33, 477.99 and 557.57 mg/kg in different tissues of these vegetables were significantly higher than that in control group (t=-10.49-7.41, P<0.05). Except celery stems, there was a positive correlation about contents of the strontium between other tissues of these vegetables and their experimental soils (r=0.88-0.99, t=7.41-15.96, P<0.05). Based on dry weight of examples, the TF in each tissue sample of cabbage and radish was higher than 1, and the concentration ratio, for cabbage and radish, was higher in stems than in roots (F= 8.22, 91.49, P<0.05). Conclusions Three kinds of vegetables have been shown to have strontium accumulation ability in soil environment. Key words: Strontium; Vegetables; Transportation factor; Concentration ratio