Detection of natural radionuclides concentration in corchorus olitorius and soil as affected by different fertilizers

Abstract EN

The main objective of this work to measure the activity concentration of naturally radionuclides 226Ra, 238U, 232Th and 40K in sandy loam soil and leaves of Jew's-mallow plant (Corchorus olitorius).

A pot experiment was carried out and Jew's-mallow was cultivated in sandy loam soil with six types of commercial and recommended fertilizers (NPK).

The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 238U, 232Th and 40K in Bq kg-1 were measured by the high purity germanium detector to assess the effective dose of Jew's-mallow that largely consumed by Egyptian population.

Gamma activities at the end of grown season in sandy loam soil contain slightly higher concentration of natural radionuclide than that soil at the beginning season and lower than worldwide values.

The transfer factor for 226Ra, 238U, 232Th and 40K from soil to Jew's-mallow plants is less than unity in all treatments.

The estimated annual effective dose due to the ingestion of Jew's-mallow plant varied from 7.89 - 21.5µSv y-1, which indicated that the use of fertilizer is not effect on the level of radionuclide in Jew's-mallow and it's safe for human consumption.