Atmospheric fallout impact on 210Po and 210Pb content in wild growing mushrooms

Abstract

The atmospheric fallout impact on 210Po and 210Pb content in fruitbodies of wild growing mushrooms collected from different environments were investigated. The samples of morphologically different mushroom species, namely bay bolete (Imleria badia (Fr.) Vizzini), slippery jack (Suillus luteus (L.) Roussel), fairy ring mushroom (Marasmius oreades (Bolton) Fr.) and common earthball (Scleroderma citrinum Pers.) with their mycelium and soil substrate were collected. Their fruitbodies were separated into cap skin, cap flesh and stem. Also mycelium and soil substrate were collected. The results showed the highest 210Po and 210Pb activity concentrations were found in Marasmius oreades cap skin: 3.20 ± 0.12 and 21.1 ± 0.5 Bq kg−1 ww, respectively, which constituted 31.2 and 78.7% of their content in the total fruitbody mass. In the case of open space wild growing mushrooms, their whole caps contain a significantly higher amount of 210Po and 210Pb when compared to the stem, and their content in the whole cap was determined mainly by concentrations in the cap skin.