Influence of potassium on uptake and distribution op cesium in bush beans

Bush beans, Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Improved Tendergreen, were grown for 18 days in 3700 ml. nutrient solutions in a factorial experiment involving 3 levels of K (10^‐2, 10^‐3, 10^‐4N) and 3 levels of Cs (10^‐4, 5 x 10^‐5, 10^‐5N). Mild K deficiency was observed for the low K level but no yield differences were due to Cs. Increasing K markedly decreased the Cs concentrations in all plant parts. The relative uptake of K vs Cs was not influenced by Cs but was by K. The concentration ratio (C.R.) for K in trifoliate leaves varied from 99 (high K) to 7315 (low K). The C.R, for Cs in trifoliate leaves varied from 8,67 (high K) to,0.96 (low K). Potassium was translocated to trifoliate leaves from 89 to 843 times that of Cs. The “Y”; values for Cs in plant parts was consistently near 1 meaning that Cs uptake was directly proportional to its concentration in the nutrient solution. The “Y”; values for K in plant parts were around 0.5 for 10^‐3/10^‐4N K but only about 0,2 for 10^‐2/10^‐3N K. Roots accumulated about 6 times more Cs than did leaves while K was quite uniformly distributed among plant parts. The uptake relationship for K and Cs then was vastly different indicating that K would not likely be a good carrier of radiocesium in food chains.