Comparative study on the uptake of strontium-85 from nutrient solutions and potted soils by lettuce

Abstract

The relation between strontium-85 uptake by young lettuce plants and soil solution composition is discussed. Uptake from soils is furthermore compared to the uptake from nutrient solutions. A close relationship is shown to exist between the concentration of Sr in the plant and the Sr/Ca ratio in the solution, either in the nutrient medium or in the soil solution. The activity of the other ions in solution is shown to have only minor effects on the uptake of Sr. Results are discussed in the context of the hypothesis that the soil liquid phase is the environment from which plants primarily withdraw their nutrients.

An overview of BORIS: Bioavailability of Radionuclides in Soils

“…However, the reported inverse relationship between Ca concentration outside the root and Sr uptake (Lembrechts et al, 1990a) fits into the hypothesis of Ca and Sr competing for the same transporters. Also, the observed trend that Ca-accumulating plants accumulate Sr too fits also with the hypothesis that uptake parameters for Ca are good estimates of uptake parameters for Sr.…”

Predicting soil-to-plant transfer of radionuclides with a mechanistic model (BioRUR)

“…However, the reported inverse relationship between Ca concentration outside the root and Sr uptake (Lembrechts et al, 1990) suggests that Ca and Sr may compete for the same transporters. The observed trend that Caaccumulating plants accumulate Sr too (Veresoglou et al, 1995) fits also with the hypothesis that uptake parameters for Ca are good estimates of uptake parameters for Sr.…”

“…It has empirically been established that the uptake of Cs by roots is largely affected by the concentration of K in the root medium (Menzel, 1954;Cline and Hungate, 1960;Shaw and Bell, 1989;Shaw 1992;Smolders et al, 1996), while root uptake of Sr is affected by Ca concentration (Menzel, 1954;Lembrechts et al, 1990;Veresoglou et al, 1995). Also, some seasonal or developmental variation in soil-to-plant transfer has been reported (Nishhita et al, 1962;Smolders and Shaw, 1995) showing that a constant coefficient for relating plant accumulation of radionuclide with soil solution composition may not be appropriate.…”

“…Soil-to-plant transfer of radionuclides is not only determined by the concentration of radionuclides in the soil solution, at least in the case of Cs (Shaw, 1992(Shaw, , 1993Smolders et al, 1996) and Sr (Lembrechts et al, 1990;Veresoglou et al, 1995). It has empirically been established that the uptake of Cs by roots is largely affected by the concentration of K in the root medium (Menzel, 1954;Cline and Hungate, 1960;Shaw and Bell, 1989;Shaw 1992;Smolders et al, 1996), while root uptake of Sr is affected by Ca concentration (Menzel, 1954;Lembrechts et al, 1990;Veresoglou et al, 1995).…”

Transfer factors for Sr as influenced by species Ca uptake and soil Ca availability

“…In radioecology, the soil to plant transfer factor (TF), defined as the ratio of the amount of radionuclide per g of dry plant material and the amount per g dry soil (Lembrechts et al, 1990), has been proposed for comparisons of radionuclide transfer from soil to plants. Transfer factors can be used for comparing plant species in taking up radionuclides when grown in the same soil or comparing different soils in supplying plants of a particular species with a radionuclide.…”