Exchangeable Potassium Fertilizer Reduces Nuclear Absorption of Crops

A new study by the Japan Agriculture and Food Industry Technology Comprehensive Research Institute shows that the application of exchangeable potassium fertilizer to rice fields contaminated with radioactive cesium can reduce the radioactive cesium absorbed by brown rice by at least half.

Exchangeable potassium is the form of potassium that the crop directly absorbs, but the amount of exchangeable potassium in the soil is quite limited.

Researchers from Japan's Agricultural and Food Industry Technology Research Institute recently conducted experiments on farms in the four counties of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, and Gunma. The soil in these four counties was contaminated with radioactive material leaked from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. They found that compared to brown rice harvested in farmland without radioactive potassium fertilizer, farmer brown rice that uses exchangeable potassium fertilizer absorbs at least half of the radioactive helium. The researchers believe that the chemical properties of lanthanum and potassium are similar, so potassium is used instead of lanthanum by rice.

However, the researchers found that the more exchangeable potassium application, the more effective it is. In soils with very high exchangeable potassium content, the application of exchangeable potassium fertilizer will hardly be effective.

According to Kato Naoto, the principal researcher at the agency, "This method is effective in soils with low exchangeable potassium levels. If brown rice is further processed into polished rice, the concentration of radioactive cesium will be further reduced. I hope this year will be used in some areas in Japan. This method."

In the future, the research team is also preparing to investigate annually whether the effect of this method will change and its effect on other crops.