SOIL-TO-PLANT TRANSFER FACTORS OF NATURAL RADIONUCLIDES IN FOUR COMMON NIGERIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS
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ABSTRACT
The use of medicinal plants to prevent or cure common diseases in Nigeria has increased over the years. These plants can be a source of internal radiological contamination if their radionuclide contents are high. This research investigates the activity concentration of three naturally occurring radionuclides - 238U, 232Th and 40K in the soil and edible parts of four common medicinal plants in Nigeria. Also the soil-to-plant transfer factors of the radionuclides were investigated. The plants considered for their radioisotopes burden were Moringa oleifera, Zingiber officinale, Indian saffron and Ageratum conyzoides all of which were cultivated in Nigeria. The specific activity concentration of 238U, 232Th and 40K in these plants and corresponding cultivated soil were measured using gamma spectrometric analysis via a well calibrated HpGe detector. The measure activity concentration of 238U in farm soil ranged from 23.513± 3.527 Bq kg-1 to 58.984 ± 8.847 Bq kg-1 , 232Th ranged from 33.455 ± 5.018 Bq Kg-1 to 63.735 ± 9.560 Bq Kg-1 and 40K ranged from 336.669± 50.500 Bq kg-1 to 729.451 ± 109.417 Bq kg-1 . The activity concentration of 40K in the medicinal plants ranges from 1.70 ± 0.26 Bq Kg-1 to 239.77 ± 30.95 Bq Kg-1 with an average value of 89.64 ± 10.15 Bq Kg -1 . The highest activity concentration of 40K was recorded for Moringa oleifera while Indian saffron had the lowest activity concentration. 238U activity ranged from 10.37±1.56 Bq Kg-1 to 1.34±0.20 Bq Kg-1 with an average value of 4.62 ± 0.66 Bq Kg-1 . The lowest activity concentration recorded in Moringa oleifera while the highest activity was recoded in Ageratum conyzoides. Also, 232Th activity ranges from 4.621 ± 0.693 Bq Kg-1 to 13.752 ± 2.063 Bq Kg-1 with average value of 8.18525 ± 1.177091667 Bq Kg-1 . The lowest activity concentration was recorded for Indian saffron while the highest activity concentration was recorded in Moringa oleifera. It was further observed that 232U was higher in Goat weed, Ginger, and Turmeric compared to 232Th and 40K. Also, for both 232Th and 40K, samples of leaves had the highest activity concentrations compared to 238U. The average transfer factors of 238U, 232Th and 40K were 0.09, 0.19, and 0.20; 0.49, 0.40 and 0.31; 0.45, 0.17, and 0.29; 0.24, 0.15 and 0.06 for Moringa oleifera, Ageratum conyzoides, Zingiber officinale, and Indian saffron respectively
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