Study on the radioactivity and soil-to-plant transfer factor of 226Ra, 234U and 238U radionuclides in irrigated farms from the northwestern Saudi Arabia

Publication date: August 2016
Source:Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Volume 160
Author(s): Ibrahim F. Al-Hamarneh, N. Alkhomashi, Fahad I. Almasoud
The present study addresses the soil-to-plant transfer factors (TFs) of ²²⁶Ra, ²³⁴U and ²³⁸U for 13 types of vegetables and agricultural crops planted under semi-arid environment in the northwestern part of Saudi Arabia. Crop plants along with plant-growing soils were collected from selected farms, which are irrigated from the non-renewable Saq aquifer, and investigated for their radioactivity content by means of alpha spectrometry after applying a radiochemical separation procedure. Hence, TF data for plant roots, green parts (stem and leaves) and fruits were calculated and contrasted to those reported in the literature. Substantial differences were observed in the TFs of Ra and U radioisotopes among plant species. In crop fruits, eggplant exhibited the highest uptake of ²²⁶Ra (TF value of 0.11), while beans (0.16) have the highest TF for ²³⁴U and ²³⁸U. The geometric mean TF values indicated that the crop roots tend to accumulate Ra and U about four to six-folds higher than fruits. The relation between TF values and soil concentrations showed a weak correlation. Activity ratios between radionuclides in crop plants indicated the preferential translocation of U in fruits than Ra even though Ra is more available for root uptake. The fruit/root (F/R) ratios obtained for the investigated plants shown that pepper had the smallest F/R ratios (0.07 ± 0.01, 0.12 ± 0.02 and 0.11 ± 0.02 for ²²⁶Ra, ²³⁴U and ²³⁸U, respectively), while the highest F/R ratios were observed in potatoes (0.71 ± 0.15, 0.44 ± 0.10 and 0.40 ± 0.08 for ²²⁶Ra, ²³⁴U and ²³⁸U, respectively). The TF and F/R ratios data of natural radionuclides in the study region can hopefully improve the scientific knowledge for future studies.

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