Mercury in traditionally foraged species of fungi (macromycetes) from the karst area across Yunnan province in China

摘要

The objective of this study is to better quantify the occurrence, intake, and potential risk from Hg in fungi traditionally foraged in SW China. The concentrations and intakes of Hg were measured from 42 species including a "hard" flesh type polypore fungi and a" soft" flesh type edible species that are used in traditional herbal medicine, collected during the period 2011-2017. Three profiles of forest topsoil from the Zhenyuan site in 2015 and Changning and Dulong sites in 2016 were also investigated. The concentrations of Hg in composite samples of polypore fungi were usually below 0.1 mg kg(-1) dry weight (dw) but higher levels, 0.11 +/- 0.01 and 0.24 +/- 0.00 mg kg(-1) dw, were noted inGanoderma applanatumandAmauroderma nigerrespectively, both from the Nujiang site near the town of Lanping in NW Yunnan. Hg concentrations inBoletaceaespecies were usually well above 1.0 mg kg(-1) dw and as high as 10 mg kg(-1) dw. The quality of the mushrooms in this study in view of contamination with Hg showed a complex picture. The "worst case" estimations showed probable intake of Hg from 0.006 mu g kg(-1) body mass (bm) ("hard" type flesh) to 0.25 mu g kg(-1) bm ("soft" flesh) on a daily basis for capsulated products, from 17 to 83 mu g kg(-1) bm ("soft" flesh) in a meal ("hard" type flesh mushrooms are not cooked while used in traditional herbal medicine after processing), and from 0.042 to 1.7 and 120 to 580 mu g kg(-1) bm on a weekly basis, respectively.