Contamination of wheat, rye, and potatoes by foliar application of134Cs

The aim of the study reported in this paper was to derive factors describing the translocation of radiocesium from the green plant parts to the crop. Wheat, rye and potatoes were contaminated and harvested at different growth stages to allow the assessment of the contamination of the crop with known date of the radioactive deposition. At harvest, the cesium concentrations in the crop, the green plant parts (i.e., straw without ears) and the roots were measured. The results show that the contamination of the crop depends strongly on the date of¹³⁴Cs application and on the type of plants. The highest translocation was observed when cesium was applied during flowering.