Effects of ash fertilization and prescribed burning on macronutrient, heavy metal, sulphur and Cs-137 concentrations in lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea)
T. Levula et al., Effects of ash fertilization and prescribed burning on macronutrient, heavy metal, sulphur and Cs-137 concentrations in lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), FOREST ECOL, 126(3), 2000, pp. 269-279
The effects of ash fertilization and prescribed burning on the P, K, Ca, Mg
, Mn, S, Fe, Al, Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr, Ni and Cs-137 concentrations in lingonberr
y (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) berries were investigated in a 100-year-old Sc
ots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stand growing on a dry site in central Finla
nd. The treatments were control, prescribed burning and three ash-fertilize
r doses of 1000, 2500 and 5000 kg ha(-1). The size of the plots was 30 x 30
m, and there were four replications per treatment. Lingonberries were coll
ected two (1991) and seven (1996) growing seasons after the treatments. Ash
fertilization had no effect on the heavy metal concentrations in the berri
es. Potassium was the only macronutrient whose concentration in the berries
significantly increased after ash fertilization (5000 kg ha(-1)). Prescrib
ed burning increased the berry Cd concentrations, which, however, remained
low even after prescribed burning, The berry Cs-137 concentrations decrease
d as a result of ash fertilization and prescribed burning. The reduction in
Cs-137 concentrations caused by ash fertilization may be an important find
ing especially for areas where the picking and consumption of berries has t
o be restricted as a result of radioactive fallout. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scien
ce B.V. All rights reserved.