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Naturally Occurring Radionuclides in Tissue from Beef Fed Phosphatic Clay-Grown Forages

Polk County Coop. Ext., Univ. of Florida, 1702 Hwy. 17 S., Bartow, FL 33830;

E. A. Hanlon^*

Soil and Water Sci. Dep., Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611

R. L. West

Animal Sci. Dep., Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611;

D. B. Shibles

Mined Lands Agric. Res. Project, Bartow, FL 33830;

S. L. Sumner

Polk Coop. Ext., Univ. of Florida, Bartow, FL 33830;

R. Umana

Dairy Science Dep., Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

^* Corresponding author (hanlon{at}gnv.ifas.ufl.edu).

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to determine if beef animals (Bos taurus) fed forages grown on reclaimed phosphate land accumulated selected radionuclides in muscle, kidney, or bone tissues. Sixty (60) beef steers (average weight 194.5 kg) were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: unmined pasture (control), reclaimed pasture, full feed of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) hay, or full feed of corn (Zea mays L.) silage both grown on reclaimed phosphatic clay. Animals remained on the study for approximately 14 mo and were then slaughtered. Radium²²⁶ in muscle tissue from the reclaimed pasture treatment was 0.081 Bq kg^–1 and higher (P<0.05) than in muscle tissue from the other three treatments. Radium²²⁶ levels in kidney tissue from the unmined and reclaimed pasture treatments were higher (P<0.05) than from both corn silage and alfalfa hay treatments. Bone ²²⁶Ra levels were higher than both muscle and kidney tissue (P<0.05), but no statistically significant differences were observed in bone samples among the four treatment groups. Results of this study indicate no food safety problems from consuming products from beef animals fed forages grown on reclaimed phosphate land.

Agric. Exp. Stn. Journal Series no. R-03805. Funded by a grant from the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research, Bartow, FL 33830, with additional support from the Polk County Board of County Commissioners, and the University of Florida.

Received for publication February 6, 1992.