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Published in Soil Sci Soc Am J 26:545-547 (1962)
© 1962 Soil Science Society of America
677 S. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
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Soil Colloids as a Factor in the Uptake of Cobalt, Cesium, and Strontium by Plants1

E. R. Graham and D. D. Killion2

ABSTRACT

A study of the uptake of Co, Cs, and Sr by rye, garden peas, and soybeans showed that the amount of these elements harvested, as well as the concentration in the plants, varied with the nature of the soil colloid on which they were grown.

Illite, kaolinite, montmorillonite, peat (fibrous), peat (sedimentary), and Putnam clay were Ca-saturated, mixed with nutrients and sand; and treated with known amounts of radioactive Co60, Cs137, and Sr85. Cultures of rye, peas, and soybeans were started in sand-nutrient solution mixtures, then transferred to the radioactive colloid-sand-nutrient mixture. After a period of growth, the plants were harvested, weighed and assayed for their content of radioactivity. A study of the adsorption of the nuclides by the colloids was made by the determination of the distribution coefficient of each radioactive nuclide as a trace amount in Ca-saturated exchange systems in 0.01M CaCl2 solution.

The order of uptake of Co by the rye plants was highest on illite followed in order by kaolinite, Putnam clay, peat (sedimentary), montmorillonite, and peat (fibrous). The uptake of Cs by the rye plants was highest in the plants grown on (fibrous) peat (10.59% harvested), and lowest for the plants grown on Putnam clay (0.36% harvested). The uptake of Sr by the rye plants was highest for the plants grown on montmorillonite (2.08% harvested). The uptake of the nuclides by peas and soybeans followed closely that of rye.

Data obtained from the distribution coefficient studies of the elements for the exchangers after equilibration in 0.01M CaCl2 solution reveals more Co adsorbed by the peats than by the clays; a high adsorption of Cs by illite and Putnam clays; and small differences with Sr with exchangers other than kaolin. The adsorption of the three elements was lower for kaolin than for the other cation-exchangers. The percentage of Co and Cs harvested by the plants was correlated with the reciprocal of the distribution coefficient.

NOTES

1 Contribution from the Missouri Agr. Exp. Sta., Columbia. Journal Series No. 2403. Approved by the Director. Appreciation is expressed to the U. S. Atomic Energy Agency for Grant AT(11-1)1014 made to the University of Missouri for partial support of this research. Presented before Div. II, Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 29, 1961, at St. Louis, Mo.

2 Professor and Assistant in Soils, University of Missouri, respectively.

Received for publication February 12, 1962. Accepted for publication June 11, 1962.






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The SCI Journals Agronomy Journal Crop Science
Journal of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences Education		 Vadose Zone Journal
Journal of Plant Registrations Journal of
Environmental Quality		 The Plant Genome
Copyright © 1962 by the Soil Science Society of America.