Differences in root uptake of radiocaesium by 30 plant taxa

The concentration of Cs was measured in the shoots of 30 taxa of plants after exposing the roots for 6 h to 0.1 mu g radiolabelled Cs g(-1) soil. There were maximum differences between Chenopodium quinoa and Koeleria macrantha of 20-fold in Cs concentration and 100-fold in total Cs accumulated There was a weak relationship between Rb(K) and Cs concentration across the 30 taxa, but a strong relationship within the Gramineae and Chenopodiaceae. Taxa in the Chenopodiaceae discriminated approximately nine times less between Rb and Cs during uptake than did those in the Gramineae. The lowest Cs concentrations occurred in slow growing Gramineae and the highest in fast growing Chenopodiaceae. If radiocaesium uptake by the Chenopodiaceae during chronic exposures shows similar patterns to those reported here after acute exposure, then the food contamination implications and the potential for phytoremediation of radiocaesium contaminated soils using plants in this family may be worth investigating. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.