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Soil-to-grain transfer of fallout 137Cs for 28 winter wheat cultivars as observed in field experiments

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Abstract

In order to find wheat cultivars with a minimum soil-to-grain transfer of fallout 137Cs, 28 winter wheat cultivars were investigated at 3 different sites with different soil types in Bavaria, Germany. Each cultivar was grown on an area of 10 m2 and harvested in August 1999. The soil-to-grain concentration ratios (Cr) of 137Cs varied by a factor of up to 3 from cultivar to cultivar at a given site and from site-to-site for a given cultivar. The mean Cr values at the three sites, 4.2×10−4, 4.9×10−4 and 7.5×10−4, differed significantly. The fact that no cultivar showed similar Cr values at the three sites indicates a strong influence of the soil on Cr. The cultivars Flair, Kornett and Previa showed a minor uptake of 137Cs compared with the mean of all cultivars at each site. Unlike 137Cs, the 40K concentrations in the wheat grains varied only within a small range (122–190 Bq kg−1) at each site, which is due to the potassium regulation by the plants. For both radionuclides, the differences between the root uptake characteristics of the cultivars may not only be explained by an inter-cultivar variability due to genetic differences between the cultivars, but also by an intra-cultivar variability due to different soil conditions.

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Notes

  1. Quantities, units, and terms are used according to ICRU [3]

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Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge fruitful discussions with K. Bunzl. This work was supported by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment, Public Health, and Consumer Protection, under contract no. 96-8816.09-2000/4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GSF—-National Research Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Radiation Protection, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    W. Schimmack, F. Dietl, W. Schultz & H. G. Paretzke

  2. Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture, Voettinger Strasse 38, 85354, Freising, Germany

    G. Zimmermann

  3. GSF—-National Research Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Biomathematics and Biometry, Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    M. Sommer

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  1. W. Schimmack
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Correspondence to W. Schimmack.

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Schimmack, W., Zimmermann, G., Sommer, M. et al. Soil-to-grain transfer of fallout 137Cs for 28 winter wheat cultivars as observed in field experiments. Radiat Environ Biophys 42, 275–284 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-003-0217-4

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