POLISH JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(Pol. J. Ecol.)

51

1

37-44

2003

 

 

 

Effect of microscopic fungi on the 137Cs accumulation by some plants growing on radionuclides contaminated soil

 

Nelli Zhdanova1*, Antonina Vasilevskaya 1, Tamara Lashko2, Martin H. Gerzabek 3

 

1Institute of Microbiology and Virology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Zabolotnogo 154, 03143 Kiev, Ukraine, *e-mail: zhdanova_imv.ua@mail.ru 
2
Scientific Center of Institute of Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences, Prospect Nauki 47, 03028 Kiev, Ukraine, e-mail: magistr@kinr.kiev.ua
3
University of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Soil Research, Gregor-Mendel-Strasse 33, A-1180 Vienna, Austria and ARC Seibersdorf research, A-2444 Seibersdorf, Austria, e-mail: martin.gerzabek@arcs.ac.at 

 

Abstract: 

The influence of soil micromycetes (melanin-containing, dark-pigmented Cladosporium cladosporioides and light-pigmented Paecilomyces lilacinus) on 137Cs accumulation by aboveground phytomass of some higher plants (sugar beet, cabbage and clover) was studied in field experiments in radionuclides contaminated soil of the Chernobyl zone with total radioactivity 37–50 kBq/kg. Abundance of these fungi was determined 1, 3 and 5 months after their introduction into the soil. P. lilacinus colonies were isolated in the beginning of the experiment in contrast to C. cladosporioides colonies that were isolated at the end of plants vegetation.

The coefficients of 137Cs accumulation by aboveground phytomass were higher after the introduction of light-pigmented than of dark-pigmented fungus. These coefficients were higher after the simultaneous introduction of the two fungi than after each fungus introduced separately.

 

Key words: micromycetes, radioactive soil, coefficients of 137Cs accumulation