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Evaluation of the radioactive Cs concentration in brown rice based on the K nutritional status of shoots

  • JPR Symposium
  • Current status and future control of cesium contamination in plants and algae in Fukushima
  • Published:
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Abstract

The radioactive cesium (134,137Cs) concentration in brown rice is correlated with that in the straw/husk. The distribution of 134,137Cs, resembles that of potassium (K), a homologous element of Cs, in the rice plant body. The relative isotopic abundance of 40K is 0.0117 %; thus, 1 g K contains 30.4 Bq 40K, and the mass of 4,000 Bq 40K is 0.0154 g, indicating that the K concentration can be calculated from 40K concentration. We examined if the radioactive Cs concentration in brown rice can be estimated from 40K concentrations in straw, and especially might be predicted from the 40K:134,137Cs ratio in straw. We determined the concentrations of 40K and radioactive Cs in straw and brown rice, and found a strong correlated-equation (y = 72.922 x−0.759; r = 0.907) between the radioactive Cs concentration in brown rice and the 40K:134,137Cs ratio in straw. The estimated-radioactive Cs concentration in brown rice can be as much as double, depending on the K nutritional status changing the 40K:134,137Cs ratio in straw. We herein propose a nutritional diagnosis that radioactive Cs concentrations in brown rice can be predicted from the 40K:134,137Cs ratio in shoots.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Yuichi Onda (University of Tsukuba) for supervising this research. We also thank Prof. Akira Kitamura and Ms. Chiyo Komiyama (Graduate School of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University) and Ms. Mari Mimura (Graduate school of science, Kobe University) for their support with the Ge solid-state detector system and data analysis. This research was funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (Grant-in-Aid No. 24110007), and received funds from a grant from the Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Environment Fund, and from a research grant for Supporting Tohoku from the President of Utsunomiya University.

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  1. Akio Matsuzaki

    Present address: , 30 Kawasita, Saiso, Miwa-machi, Iwaki, 970-1377, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya, 321-8505, Japan

    Hitoshi Sekimoto, Takashi Yamada & Tomoe Hotsuki

  2. Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Toru Fujiwara & Akio Matsuzaki

  3. Graduate School of Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe, 657-8501, Japan

    Tetsuro Mimura

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  1. Hitoshi Sekimoto
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  2. Takashi Yamada
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  4. Toru Fujiwara
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  5. Tetsuro Mimura
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Correspondence to Hitoshi Sekimoto.

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Sekimoto, H., Yamada, T., Hotsuki, T. et al. Evaluation of the radioactive Cs concentration in brown rice based on the K nutritional status of shoots. J Plant Res 127, 73–78 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-013-0614-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-013-0614-y

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