Accumulation Patterns of Nitrates, Chlorides, and Fluorides in Fruiting Bodies of Selected Macroscopic Fungi

Fruiting bodies of wild-growing Xerocomellus chrysenteron, Suillus grevillei, Chlorophyllum rhacodes, Leucopaxillus giganteus, and Auricularia auricula-judae were analyzed with regard to the contents of water-extractable nitrates, chlorides, and fluorides. Potentiometry with ion-selective electrodes was used to determine individual analytes. In addition, Na, K, Mg, Ca, and Zn were determined using atomic spectrometry methods. The analyses revealed the following contents (expressed in mg kg^-1 dry matter) of nitrates (3200, 900, 2100, 780, and 370), chlorides (8200, 6600, 1000, 1900, and 1200), and fluorides (12, 11, 7.0, < 1.9, and 12). Nitrates were bioconcentrated by X. chrysenteron and S. grevillei with bioconcentration factors of 4.3 and 2.4, while chlorides by X. chrysenteron, S. grevillei, C. rhacodes, and L. giganteus with bioconcentration factors of 130, 38, 7.0, and 5.6, respectively. Potentiometry proved to be a suitable, inexpensive, and relatively simple method for determining NO₃ ^-, Cl^-, and F^- in mushroom samples, providing essential information from the scientific perspective. The results suggest highly species-specific patterns of ion accumulation that cannot be easily explained solely by the measured concentrations of water-extractable soil substrate.