Mercury and its bioconcentration factors in King Bolete (Boletus edulis) Bull. Fr

The total mercury content for a representative number of the carpophores of King Bolete from 13 sites across Poland averaged from 1.1 +/- 1.4 to 7.6 +/- 3.1 microg/g dry matter in the caps (total variation between 0.02 and 14 microg/g dm), and from 0.82 +/- 0.71 to 3.8 +/- 1.8 microg/g dm in stalks (total variation between 0.03 and 6.7 microg/g dm). A top soil layer (0-10 cm) collected from the mushroom sampling sites showed mean mercury content at range from 0.02 +/- 0.01 to 0.05 +/- 0.02 microg/g dm (total variation between 0.01 and 0.08 microg/g dm). King Bolete is effective mercury accumulator in the carpophores and bioconcentration factor (BCF) of this element in the caps ranged from 41 +/- 6 to 130 +/- 39 (total variation between 13 and 170) and in the stalks were from 27 +/- 18 to 72 +/- 22 (total variation between 4.0 and 90). Based on a relatively large set of data on the total mercury concentrations obtained in this survey, and dataset available for King Bolete from various sites in Europe, it seems reasonable to state that the upper food hygienic limit for the total mercury content in this species collected from unpolluted (background) sites should not exceed 20 microg/g dm in a single cap or a carpophore, while on an average, per site or consignment, should not exceed 10 mug/g dm in the caps or the carpophores.

Selected elements of Poison Pax Paxillus involutus

Concentrations of Ag, Al, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Cs, Fe, Ga, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Rb, Se, Sb, Sr, V, Tl and Zn have been determined in the whole fruiting bodies as well as separately in caps and stalks of Poison Pax collected from three geographically distant sites across Poland. The elements were determined using ICP-MS, ICP-OES, HG-AAS and CV-AAS, respectively. Based on arithmetic mean and median values for Poison Pax specimens from the Lezno site the elements such as Ag, Co, Cr, Cs, Mn, Mo, K, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se, V and Tl occur at similar concentration both in the caps and stalks, while for Cd, Cu, Hg, Mg and Zn around two-fold greater concentrations were noted in caps than stalks (cap/stalk concentration quotient > 1). Cs, Cd, Ni and Rb occurred at much greater concentration in specimens collected from the Kłodzka Hollow in the Sudety Mountains when compared to the lowland site (Mann-Whitney U-test), and slightly greater values were noted also for Cr, Mo and Rb, while for Ca, Co, Mg and Mn were smaller The results provide useful environmental and biological baseline level of information for metallic elements of Poison Pax.