Janco et al. 2019 - Cd, Pb, and Hg in Boletus reticulatus and underlying soils in Slovakia

This Slovak study measured Cd, Pb, and Hg in wild Boletus reticulatus caps and stems and paired forest soils. The abstract reports higher maximum average Cd and Hg in caps than stems, while Pb was higher in stems in the highest-average comparison. The study is routeable wild-mushroom occurrence evidence and also provides soil context.

Key numbers

All mushroom concentrations below are reported as mg/kg dry weight.

EU-limit comparison stated in the abstract for edible mushrooms: Cd 0.50 mg/kg DW, Pb 1.00 mg/kg DW, Hg 0.75 mg/kg DW. Exceedance proportions reported by the authors:

• Mushroom caps: 50% exceeded Pb, 40% exceeded Hg, and 100% exceeded Cd.
• Mushroom stems: 75% exceeded Cd and 38% exceeded Pb; no stem samples exceeded the Hg limit.
• Soil underlying substrate ranges: Hg ND-0.14 mg/kg DW; Cd 2.09-33.5 mg/kg DW; Pb 12.5-57.5 mg/kg DW.

Methods (brief)

The study collected 48 Boletus reticulatus fruiting bodies and 48 paired soil samples from pine stands at eight locations. Mushroom caps and stems were separated. ICP-OES was used for multi-element analysis, and mercury was determined by AMA-254.

Implications

Certification: This source contributes dry-weight wild mushroom values for Cd, Pb, and total Hg from Slovakia. It should not be pooled with cultivated mushroom values without a wild/cultivated stratum.

Courses: Useful example of tissue partitioning: caps and stems can differ substantially by metal.

App: Supports a wild Boletus warning context for Cd and Hg, especially where soil Cd is elevated.

Wiki pages this source may touch

• wild-mushrooms
• mushrooms
• mushrooms
• cadmium
• lead
• mercury-total

Verification notes

• The paper reports total Hg, not MeHg.
• The source prints “cadmiumand” and other spacing artifacts in the extracted text; numeric values are copied from the abstract table prose.

Page history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.