INTENSITY OF CESIUM-137 ACCUMULATION IN PRODUCTS BY HONEY BEES AT THE APPLICATION OF MINERAL FERTILIZERS IN CONDITIONS OF RADIOACTIVELY CONTAMINATED SOILS NORTHERN POLISSYA

Abstract

The quality and safety of crop products, in particular nectar and pollen, which are raw materials for the production of beekeeping products, depends on the condition of the soil, its composition, the content of humus, minerals, the level of moisture, as well as the level of pollution with toxicants. Particular attention in the past few decades has been attributed to the problem of soil pollution by various toxicants, among which a high danger is posed by radionuclides that have entered the environment as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which led to the contamination of cesium-137 above 37 kBq/m2 461.7 thousand hectares of agricultural land, of which arable land - 345.9 thousand hectares. The largest areas of land contaminated with cesium-137 are located in Zhytomyrskaya (156 thousand hectares), Cherkasskaya (76 thousand hectares), Rivnenskaya (52 thousand hectares), Chernigovskaya (52 thousand hectares), Vinnytsia (50 thousand hectares), Kievskaya (34 thousand hectares) regions. In particular, in the Cherkassy and Vinnytsia regions in agricultural products, no excess of the permissible levels of contamination for this radionuclide has been revealed in recent years. The territories where there is a constant danger of contamination of soil and crop production with radionuclides, it is necessary to include, first of all, the northern regions of Polesie, which were most affected by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. According to the results of the studies, it was revealed that the specific activity of cesium-137 in honey and bee pollen obtained from nectar and pollen of winter rapeseed and sunflower on soils with a content of this radionuclide from 2305 Bq/kg to 2407 Bq/kg in the northern part of Zhytomyr region is not exceeds DR-2006. At the same time, when applying mineral fertilizers, an increase in the specific activity of cesium-137, its hazard coefficients and accumulation in honey and bee pollen when using ammonium nitrate is observed, while when using simple superphosphate, potassium chloride, a mixture of NPK fertilizers, these indicators decrease. In all variants, with the introduction of mineral fertilizers, in honey and bee pollen produced by bees from nectar and pollen of winter rapeseed and sunflower, no excess of DR-2006 was observed. The highest specific activity of cesium-137, its hazard coefficients and accumulation in honey and bee pollen produced by bees from nectar and pollen from winter rapeseed and sunflower, was found in the variant with soil fertilization with ammonium nitrate. A low effect of mineral fertilizers on the intensity of cesium-137 translocation in the soil – plant – nectar – honey – pollen – bee pollen chain was found when potassium chloride was used. When fertilizing the soil with potassium chloride in honey and bee pollen produced by bees from nectar and pollen of winter rapeseed, the specific activity of cesium-137 was lower than when fertilized with ammonium nitrate by 44.9% and 43.4%, simple superphosphate - by 18, 8% and 18.0% and a mixture of NPK fertilizers - by 12.8% and 24.0%. In honey and bee pollen produced by bees from sunflower when fertilizing soils with potassium chloride, the specific activity of cesium-137 was lower than when using ammonium nitrate by 50.6% and 53.1%, by 27.1% and 32.6%, and 7.2% and 67.7%, respectively.