| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2017 | Volume
: 40
| Issue : 1 | Page : 34-43 |
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Naturally occurring radionuclide transfer from soil to vegetables in some farmlands in Ghana and statistical analysis
Theophilus Adjirackor1, Emmanuel Ofori Darko2, Frederic Sam3
1 Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Department of Radiological and Non-ionizing installation, Atomic Energy, Kwabenya; Department of Business Administration and Computer Sciences, Dominion University College, Accra, Ghana
2 Department of Waste and Environmental, Radiation Protection Institute, Accra; Department of Health Physics and Radiation Protection, University of Ghana, School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, Cape Coast, Ghana
3 Department of Physics, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
Correspondence Address:
Theophilus Adjirackor
Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Atomic Energy, Ghana. Dominion University College, Accra
Ghana
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/rpe.RPE_11_17
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Distribution studies of natural radionuclides in soil, statistical analysis of activity concentrations, and transfer factors (TFs) from soil to the vegetables grown in some selected farming communities within the Greater Accra Region in Ghana were carried out. The measurements were carried out through a gamma-ray spectrometry. The mean activity concentrations of 226Ra, 228Ra, and 40K in the fertilized soils were 20.0 ± 3.9 Bq/kg, 39.0 ± 7.0 Bq/kg, and 143.6 ± 23.3 Bq/kg, respectively. For the nonfertilized soils, mean activity concentrations were found to be 12.07 ± 2.55 Bq/kg for 226Ra, 27.1 ± 6.3 Bq/kg for 228Ra, and 87.8 ± 18.5 Bq/kg for 40K. These results were compared with reported ranges in the literature from other location in the world. The TF for 226Ra, 228Ra, and 40K from fertilized soil to vegetables was evaluated. 226Ra TF values from fertilized soil to vegetables were found to be higher in lettuce in Farm 6. The highest TF for 40K and 228Ra was found in cauliflower in Farm 4. 40K TF was higher than those values reported in other studies. The activity concentration in fertilized and unfertilized soil exhibited slightly positively skewed, negatively skewed, leptokurtic, and platykurtic distribution in terms of skewness and kurtosis. The activity concentration of natural radionuclides in fertilized and unfertilized soil is statistically insignificant at 5% level of significance using independent t-test. Pearson's correlation coefficient exhibited a negative correlation between 226Ra and 228Ra in fertilized soil and 226Ra and 228Ra in vegetables but was statistically insignificant while 40K in fertilized soil exhibited a positive correlation with 40K in vegetables and was statistically significant at 5% level of significance with a coefficient of determination of 1%, 61%, and 10% for 226Ra, 40K, and 228Ra, respectively. |
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