Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Mar 7;6(3):e03455.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03455. eCollection 2020 Mar.

Tobacco plant as possible biomonitoring tool of red mud dust fallout and increased natural radioactivity

Tibor Kovács  1   2 , Mária Horváth  1   2 , Anita Csordás  1 , Gergő Bátor  1   2 , Edit Tóth-Bodrogi  1
Affiliations

Tobacco plant as possible biomonitoring tool of red mud dust fallout and increased natural radioactivity

Tibor Kovács et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Exposure to toxic heavy metal content in soil and inherent naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) needs to be monitored, especially after industrial accidents and remediation efforts. Just such an accident happened near Ajka city in Hungary; a large quantity of red mud flooded out from a reservoir. The afflicted area was remediated, and the red mud deposition technology was changed from a wet to a dry procedure. Concerns have been raised about potential hazards from airborne NORM dust in this area. The objectives of this study were to assess the use of explanted tobacco plants as an active biomonitoring system for airborne NORM dust and to reveal weather-related correlations of Po-210 in airborne dust. In 2011, 2012 and 2014, measurements were taken of the following at six monitoring sites in the polluted area and at eight sites in unpolluted areas: soil and tobacco plant Po-210 isotope levels, airborne Rn-222, Ra-226 in soil, Th-232 and K-40 radioactivity concentrations. The transfer factors (TFs) of tobacco were calculated yearly for these isotopes. Association of data with local weather features was determined. In 2012 (the windiest and driest year), the mean Po-210 activity concentrations of tobacco samples in polluted areas were significantly higher than in 2011 and in 2014 (p = 0.044 and p = 0.024, respectively). The mean TF of samples in 2012 was also significantly higher in tobacco plants grown in the polluted area compared to ones grown in unpolluted areas (p = 0.020). These results presumably originate from red mud dust-particle adsorption on tobacco plant leaves. Tobacco plants are promising active bioindicators of airborne particulate pollution by Po-210 or other atmospheric NORM content.

Keywords: Analytical chemistry; Biomonitoring; Environmental analysis; Environmental chemistry; Environmental pollution; Environmental risk assessment; Natural hazard; Naturally occurring radioactive materials; Plant biology; Po-210; Red mud; Tobacco.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map overview of the red-mud-flooded area, the deposition and the monitoring sites.
Figure 2
Figure 2
In Panel A, a comparison is made of mean Po-210 activity concentrations in tobacco leaves from polluted and non-polluted sites in 2011, 2012 and 2014. For a comparison of regional weather influence during vegetational periods, yearly mean values of temperature, precipitation and wind speed are shown in Panels B, C and D, respectively. Asterisks denote significance levels: p < 0.05 (∗); p < 0.01 (∗∗); and p < 0.00001 (∗∗∗∗).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Calculated yearly mean Po-210 transfer-factor values for tobacco plant leaves in polluted and unpolluted areas. Yearly differences and differences between polluted and non-polluted samples are denoted with an asterisk, meaning p < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Antoniadis V., Shaheen Sabry M., Levizou Efi, Muhammad Shahid, Niazi Nabeel Khan, Vithanage Meththika, Ok Yong Sik, Bolan Nanthi, Rinklebe Jörg. A critical prospective analysis of the potential toxicity of trace element regulation limits in soils worldwide: are they protective concerning health risk assessment?-A review. Environ. Int. 2019;127:819–847. - PubMed
    1. Ares A., Aboal J.R., Carballeira A., Giordano S., Adamo P., Fernández J.A. Moss bag biomonitoring: a methodological review. Sci. Total Environ. 2012;432:143–158. - PubMed
    1. Attahiru U., Birnin-Yauri U.A., Muhammad C. Acacia nitolica as bioindicator of copper and cobalt pollution due to vehicular emission along the main entrance road of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto-Nigeria. Int. J. Adv. Res. Comput. Sci. 2015;2:1–8.
    1. Attallah M.F., Abdel-Monem A.M. Estimation of environmental impacts of NORM from some raw materials used in ceramic industry. Radiochemistry. 2014;56(3):332–338.
    1. Bátor G., Csordás A., Horváth D., Somlai J., Kovács T. A comparison of a track shape analysis-based automated slide scanner system with traditional methods. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 2015;306(1):333–339.

LinkOut - more resources