137Cs removal from contaminated soil by perennial bluegrass herbs depending on mineral nutrition and soil water availability

The expansion of zones of anthropogenically affected agricultural lands and soil pollution pose a serious environmental threat. Radionuclides with long half-lives of fallout from the anthropogenic nuclear disasters are among the most dangerous pollutants. At present, the world scientific literature has accumulated extensive data on the effect of ameliorants, organic and mineral fertilizers on the yield and biological removal of 137Cs from the soil by crops. This paper is our first report on the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on 137Cs migration from the contaminated soil to bluegrass forage plants many years following the Chernobyl accident (South-West of the Bryansk region, 2009-2011). Our subjective was to study 137Cs removal from the soil depending on plant species and doses of full fertilizers. The soil of the site was alluvial meadow sandy, with pHKCl = 5.2-5.6, 3.08-3.33 % humus, 620-840 mg/kg mobile phosphorus, 133-180 mg/kg exchangeable potassium, and 137Cs contamination of 493-872 kBq/m2...