RADIO-LOGLOLS

L3ud

the potassium fertilization, but not enough for dilution to 2ccount for the
differences in Cs-137 contents. The absenceof radiocesium in the P-K treatment
was associated with an unusually high klevel in the planttissue.
Following this preliminary experiment with tomato, a further greenhouse trial
was made with squash, variety Hubbard. Squash was used because it is one of
the few herbaceousplants successfully cultivated in the northern Marshall Islands,
The treatments were set up in triplicate, replication was good, and the plants
grew wel] except for some chlorosis which was not entirely corrected by the
applicationof 1.5 ms Fe per pot as NaFeEDTA(Fechelated by ethvlenediamine-

tetraacetic acid). The plants were divided into upper leaf, lower leaf, and stem

fractions at harvest. Since the results were qualitatively the same for the different
fractions and space is limited, Table 1 presents the vields and Kk andCs analyses
on the basis of the entire shoot. The results of this experiment were in general
TABLE 1
Crusium axD PotassiuM CONTENTS OF SQUASH AND OF NATIVE SPECIES

Description

Average
drv yield
vem)

meq
K
per 100 gm

Csi?
d/m/g!

Squash in greenhouse pot culturcs (total shoot)

No fertilizer
N, Py Ke

N;
No
N3
N3

Py Ky
P,R:
Pe Rs
Py IX: Fe

45

8.0

T.4
33
5 4
10 2

29 6

$10+34

36
47
26
36

130 +14
15U~14
120 +16
220415

17 7

3
5
8
3

170= 11

Foweve coisected from woody plants on Rongciap Island
Messerschmidia argentea
(soit pit 25,

upper leaves
lower leaves

33
bo 6

240 +8
13U+7

(soil pit 25)
Pandanus tectortus
iwillage-2)

lower leaves
upper leaves
lower leaves

12
18 3
5 9

15027
26345
133 = 4

Scacivla sericea

upper leaves

33

MGa8

'Error given is 05% counting error.
‘Subscripts refer to rate of application per acre of N. P.O. or K,0
in hundreds of pounds.

similar to those with the tomato, although there was no response in vield to

potassium additions, and the tissue from the N..P,K, treatment contained Cs-137.

In all cases the fertilizer amendments caused a sharp reduction in the Cs-137
content expressed on a d’m’gm drybasis, although this effect could not be
associated with a particul ar fertilizer element. The depressive effect of fertilization on cesium uptake is also evident when the total Cs-187 in the shoot is calculated, indicating that dilution by a greater amount of dry yield cannot explam
the reduced cesium content. In the different portions of the squash shoots, Cs-137
was in all treatments highest in the upper leaves, lowest in the lower leaves,
and intermediate in the Stem. Squash plants grown on the same bench at the
same time but in a greenhouse loamsoil contained no Cs-137. Results of analvses
for Ca, Mg Na. and PQ, in the tissue do not offer anv obvious explanation for the
differences in cesium uptake, although it should be noted that calcium levels

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