Effect of plant growth regulators on accumulation of radiocaesium in potato tubers

Abstract

An important place among the problems of modern agriculture is occupied by the problems of rational use and protection of land and the ecologically dangerous state of the environment. The Zhytomyr region is one of the most affected by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A significant part of agricultural land has a density of contamination with cesium-137 up to 5 Ki/km2, which is 75 % of all contaminated land in the districts, about 20 % of agricultural land has a density of contamination from 5 to 15 Ki/km2, 5 % – above 15 Ki/km2. On lands with a higher density of pollution, it is necessary to apply a complex of agrochemical, agrotechnical and organizational measures to reduce the transfer of radionuclides from the soil to plants. Solving problems related to farming in radioactively contaminated territories occupies one of the leading places in the complex of measures to mitigate the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. The purpose of the research was to establish the effect of different doses and types of plant growth regulators on the productivity of potatoes, the level of radioactive contamination in the agro-ecological conditions of Polissia. Our research was carried out in the agro-ecological conditions of Polіssia LLC. Councilors of Ovrutsky district of Zhytomyr region. The transition of the radioactive isotope cesium-137 from the soil to the plants depends on the content of exchangeable potassium in the soil, the saturation of the soil-absorbing complex with bases, the reaction of the soil solution, the bonification of the soil, and the content of humus. When the agrochemical parameters of the soil improved, in particular when the content of exchangeable potassium in the soil increased from 2.3 mg/100 g of soil to 14.8 mg/100 g of soil, the specific activity of radiocesium in plants de-creased by 3.4 times. The results of our research show that the foliar treatment of potato plants with Biosil and Poteitin contributed to a decrease in the specific activity of tubers from 29.2 to 6.4–2.1 Bq/kg. It was established that foliar spraying of potato plants with Biosil and Poteitin contributed to the reduction of the coefficient of 137Cs transition to 0.03 and 0.01.