Abstract
The environmental radiation pollution resulting from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 is one of the main factors limiting agriculture in the eastern regions of Belarus. In the first decade after the accident, the need to mitigate the effects of radiation had a key role in the implementation of countermeasures. As a result, there are widespread areas of high soil fertility potential in the contaminated zone. Today there is a possibility to include new crops (e.g. sugar beet [Beta vulgaris L.]) into regular crop rotation to increase the effectiveness of agriculture and to use the accumulated soil fertility potential. The article discusses a possible agronomic approach to estimating specific fields (working plots) at the scale of agricultural enterprises for placement of sugar beet. The territory of the Mahilyow region of the Republic of Belarus was examined from the perspective of soil suitability to the cultivation of sugar beet. Along with estimating radionuclide accumulation by sugar beet roots, the areas of soils suitable for sugar beet within agricultural enterprises were calculated for selected districts. It was revealed that sugar beet has low ability to absorb radiocaesium and radiostrontium from soils. The contamination density does not restrict the possibility for placement of sugar beet. Instead, soil fertility, specifically content of plant-available phosphorus and boron, was the limiting factor in that. Based on data from field experiments and soil fertility data, a number of enterprises were selected where sugar beet could be included into crop rotations to high economic effect.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A Quarter of a Century after the Chernobyl Catastrophe: Outcomes and Prospects for the Mitigation of Consequences (2011) National Report of the Republic of Belarus. Department for Dealing with the Consequences of the Catastrophe at Chernobyl NPP of the Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk, p 2011 (in Russian)
Åhman B (1999) Transfer of radiocaesium via reindeer meat to man – effects of countermeasures applied in Sweden following the Chernobyl accident. J Environ Radioact 46:113–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0265-931X(98)00107-6
Alexakhin RM (1993) Countermeasures in agricultural production as an effective means of mitigating the radiological consequences of the Chernobyl accident. Sci Total Environ 137:9–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/0048-9697(93)90374-F
Beresford NA, Fesenko S, Konoplev A, Skuterud L, Smith JT, Voigt G (2016) Thirty years after the Chernobyl accident: what lessons have we learnt? J Environ Radioact 157:77–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.02.003
Bogdevitch I (ed) (2002) Rules of agricultural production in the conditions of radioactive contamination of lands in the Republic of Belarus at 2002–2005 [text]. Мinsk, 76 p. (in Russian)
Bogdevitch I. (2011) The role of soil fertility in the safeguards system of the contaminated land in Belarus. Soil fertility and effective fertilization: abstracts of scientific-research conference. Minsk, pp 13–15. (in Russian)
Bogdevitch I, Sanzharova N, Prister B, Tarasiuk S (2002) Countermeasures on natural and agricultural areas after Chernobyl accident. In Kolejka J. (ed) Role of GIS in lifting the cloud off Chernobyl. Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp 147–158. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004
Chernobyl Accident 2018, World Nuclear Association http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx. Accessed 05 December 2018
Decision (24.03.2011, No 359) of the Government of Belarus “About State Program of Sugar Industry Development in 2011–2015” http://government.by/ru/solutions/page/177. Accessed 05 December 2018 (in Russian)
Deville-Cavelin G, Alexakhin RM, Bogdevitch IM, Prister BS, Biesold H, Perepelyatnikova LV et al (2001) Countermeasures in agriculture: assessment of efficiency. Proceeding Int. Conf. Fifteen years after the Chernobyl accident. Lessons learned, Kiev, pp 118–128
Bayer CropScience (2011) Expert Guide: Sugar Beet, 226644, pp. 1–28. https://cropscience.bayer.co.uk/api/documentdownload. Accessed 25 March 2019
Fesenko SV, Alexakhin RM, Balonov MI, Bogdevitch IM, Howard BJ, Kashparov VA, Sanzharova NI, Panov AV, Voigt G, Zhuchenka YM (2007) An extended critical review of twenty years of countermeasures used in agriculture after the Chernobyl accident. Sci Total Environ 383:1–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.05.011
Godyń P, Dołhańczuk-Śródka A, Ziembik Z, Maliszewska E (2014) Estimation of the committed radiation dose resulting from gamma radionuclides ingested with food. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-2926-3
Godyń P, Dołhańczuk-Śródka A, Ziembik Z, Maliszewska E (2016) Influence of K on the transport of Cs-137 in soil–plant root and root–leaf systems in sugar beet. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 307(1):325–331
Gupta D, Schulz W, Steinhauser G, Walther C (2018) Radiostrontium transport in plants and phytoremediation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(30):29996–30000
Gusakov V, Privalov F (eds) (2012) The Management of Growing Forage and Technical Crops. Anthology of Branch Regulations, Minsk (in Russian)
Kerr WA, Kwaczek AS, Mooney S (1989) Disaster policy and nuclear liability: Insights from post-Chernobyl agriculture in the United Kingdom Environmental Management, Vol. 13, Issue 5, pp 521–527
Khalil M, (n.d.) Thabaynen Soil-to-Plant Transfer Factors and Distribution Coefficient of 137Cs in Some Palestinian Agricultural Areas. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283887436_Soil-to-Pant_Transfer_Factors_and_Distribution_Coefficient_of_137Cs_in_Some_Palestinian_Agricultural_Areas. Accessed 05 December 2018
Kryshev II, Ryazantsev EP (2017) Environmental risk of the radiological accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima (Japan) NPP. Atomic Energy 122(1):58–68
Lapa V, Privalov F (2007) Soil fertility and mineral fertility using in the Republic of Belarus. Soil Sci Agrochem 2:7–13 (in Russian)
National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus. Official Statistics. (n.d.-a) http://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/realny-sector-ekonomiki/selskoe-hozyaistvo/selskoe-khozyaystvo/godovye-dannye/posevnye-ploshchadi-osnovnykh-selskokhozyaystvennykh-kultur-po-oblastyam/. Accessed 14 April 2019
National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus. Official Statistics. (n.d.-b) http://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/realny-sector-ekonomiki/selskoe-hozyaistvo/selskoe-khozyaystvo/godovye-dannye/urozhaynost-osnovnykh-selskokhozyaystvennykh-kultur/ Accessed 09 December 2018
National Statistical Committee. Official Statistics. (n.d.) http://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/solialnaya-sfera/demografiya_2/g/chislo-naselennyh-punktov-raspolozhennyh-v-zonah-radioaktivnogo-zagryazneniya-i-chislennost-prozhivayuschego-v-nih-naseleniya-po-respublike-belarus/ (in Russian). Accessed 08 December 2018
Nisbet AF (1993) Effect of soil-based countermeasures on solid-liquid equilibria in agricultural soils contaminated with radiocaesium and radiostrontium. Sci Total Environ 137(1–3):99–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/0048-9697(93)90380-O
Pindral S, Świtoniak M (2017) The usefulness of soil-agricultural maps to identify classes of soil truncation. Soil Sci Annual 68(1:2):10. https://doi.org/10.1515/ssa-2017-0001
Przybył J, Mioduszewska N, Wojcieszak D, Durczak K, Ożańska E (2013) Method of external assessment of the quality of sugar Beet roots. Agric Eng 4(148):113–125
Republican tolerance levels (2018) content of 137Cs and 90Sr in agricultural primary produce and animal food / Ministry of Agriculture and Food the Republic of Belarus https://mshp.gov.by/documents/radiologiya/dfb075ca2a92c76d.html (in Russian) Accessed 05 December 2018
Smolders E, Van den Brande K, Merckx R (1997) Concentrations of 137 Cs and K in soil solution predict the plant availability of 137 Cs in soils. Environ Sci Technol 31(12):3432–3438. https://doi.org/10.1021/es970113r
Sugar Beet. (n.d.) All about the sugar beet. http://farming.by/svekla (in Russian).
The list of districts, agricultural enterprises and householders in Belarus with lands contaminated with radionuclides after the Chernobyl disaster. (n.d.) Ministry of Agriculture and Food the Republic of Belarus (in Russian) https://www.mshp.gov.by/documents/radiologiya/c00873ec67dccc61.html. Accessed 24 March 2019
The United Nations and Chernobyl (2018) http://www.un.org/ha/chernobyl/belarus.html Accessed 05 July 2019
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Georg Steinhauser
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Radziuk, H., Shapsheeva, T. Application of agronomical approaches to rehabilitating territories of the Republic of Belarus affected by the Chernobyl disaster. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 8003–8015 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07456-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07456-1