Transfer of Radiocesium into Wild Boar Meat

Abstract

The aim of the study was to find the sources of 137Cs in wild boar food in the natural ecosystem. The main emphasis is focused on the analyses of wild boar muscles and the content of wild boar stomach. Boars weighing 20 to 100 kg were killed at two locations. The highest specific activities of muscles were measured in boars originated from the Dvorce location; the average specific activity in boars killed on 14 April 2007 and 9 March 2008 achieved 132 Bq kg-1. Due to high fluctuation the differences between the mean values of 31 Bq kg-1 in males and 43 Bq kg-1 in females were not significant. Earthworms from grass fields with a specific activity of 16 Bq kg-1, rootlets from the Šabrava location with 200 Bq kg-1 and Elaphomyces granulatus fruiting bodies with 4,743 Bq kg-1 and 2,858 Bq kg-1 are the components of boar food with the 137Cs specific activities higher than that of the detection limit. Consequently, underground mushrooms probably represent the main source of radiocesium in the food chain of boars. A remarkable reduction of 137Cs specific activities in boar muscles is not expected at the post-Chernobyl radiocesium contaminated locations with the occurrence of Elaphomyces granulatus within next two decades.