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A study on Cs pollution and activity concentrations of K in mushrooms of the genera Cortinarius, Leccinum, Russula, Tricholoma, Tylopilus, and Xerocomus from two neighboring regions in southwest China in 2010-2013 revealed different patterns of pollution with Cs, which seemed to be highly dependent on climate conditions. Tricholoma matsutake was collected in Yunnan before and after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident and showed similar contamination with Cs. Mushrooms from the elevation of 2800-3480 m above sea level on the east slope of Minya Konka and forest topsoil showed higher contamination with Cs than mushrooms from the highlands of Yunnan. In detail, the activity concentration of Cs in caps of mushrooms from Minya Konka were in the range 62 ± 6-280 ± 150 Bq kg dry biomass and from Yunnan at < 4.4-83 ± 3 Bq kg dry biomass. The climate in the region of the Minya Konka is much colder than in Yunnan, which seems to favor deposition of Cs at higher altitudes from global atmospheric circulation. The activity concentration of K in mushrooms and soils highly exceeded that of Cs. The assessed annual effective doses for Cs in 1 kg of consumed mushrooms of the genera Leccinum and Xerocomus in Yunnan were low, i.e., in the range < 0.0043-0.049 ± 0.004 μSv, while those for K were 0.26 ± 0.02-0.81 ± 0.09 μSv. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous species of wild-grown mushrooms are among the most vulnerable organisms for contamination with radiocesium released from a radioactive fallout. A comparison was made on radiocesium as well as the natural gamma ray-emitting radionuclide (K) activity concentrations in the fruiting bodies of several valued edible Boletus mushrooms collected from the region of Europe and Yunnan Province in China. Data available for the first time for Boletus edulis collected in Yunnan, China, showed a very weak contamination with Cs. Radiocesium concentration activity of B. edulis samples that were collected between 2011 and 2014 in Yunnan ranged from 5.2 ± 1.7 to 10 ± 1 Bq kg dry matter for caps and from 4.7 ± 1.3 to 5.5 ± 1.0 Bq kg dry matter for stipes. The mushrooms Boletus badius, B. edulis, Boletus impolitus, Boletus luridus, Boletus pinophilus, and Boletus reticulatus collected from the European locations between 1995 and 2010 showed two to four orders of magnitude greater radioactivity from Cs compared to B. edulis from Yunnan. The nuclide K in B. badius was equally distributed between the caps and stipes, while for B. edulis, B. impolitus, B. luridus, B. pinophilus, and B. reticulatus, the caps were richer, and for each mushroom, activity concentration seemed to be more or less species-specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dried sclerotia ofWolfiporia extensahas a long history of medicinal and grocery uses in Asia and elsewhere. This study aimed at providing and evaluating data on activity concentrations from artificial137Cs and134Cs radionuclides and natural40K in sclerotia collected across of the Yunnan land in China, which is generally lacking information. Sclerotia ofW. extensashowed a low contamination with137Cs while134Cs was below limit of quantification. Estimated, the nominal value of effective dose (μSv) received by adult eating annually 50 g of the ‘average’ Yunnan's origin sclerotia contained in the ‘Fuling jiabing’ snack due to137Cs could be between < 0.00091 and 0.0047 ± 0.0007 μSvper capitaand at < 0.000015 to 0.000078 ± 0.000012 μSv per kg of body mass, which is a very low exposure. This study has revealed also that sclerotia ofW. extensaare characterized by very low content of40K (hence also of total K) when compared to fruiting bodies of many saprobic and mycorrhizal mushrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]