ABSTRACT

Mercury concentrations were determined in the caps and stalks of seven species of edible mushrooms: Cantharellus cibarius, Xerocomus baclius, Leccinum rufum, Leccinum scabrtim, Boletus edulis, Tricholoma terreum and Marasmius oreades, collected at the area of the communes Morąg and Łukta in the County of Ostróda in 1997-98. The method of mercury measurement was cold-vapour atomic absorption spectroscopy (CV-AAS) after wet digestion of the samples with concentrated nitric acid under pressure in teflon vessels in microwave oven. There were a large variation of mercury content between examined mushrooms species. Boletus edulis showed a highest mercury concentration, i.e. 3.000 ± 1.600 ng/g in the caps and 1.800 ± 900 ng/g dry matter in the stalks. The lowest mercury concentration was detected in Cantharellus cibarius and Tricholoma terreum.