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Effects of Arsenic‐Contaminated IrrigationWater on Growth, Yield, and NutrientConcentration in RiceM. Hossain a , M. R. Islam a , M. Jahiruddin a , A. Abedin a , S. Islam a & A. A.Meharg ba Department of Soil Science , Bangladesh Agricultural University ,Mymensingh, Bangladeshb School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen, UnitedKingdomPublished online: 31 Mar 2008.

To cite this article: M. Hossain , M. R. Islam , M. Jahiruddin , A. Abedin , S. Islam & A. A. Meharg (2007)Effects of Arsenic‐Contaminated Irrigation Water on Growth, Yield, and Nutrient Concentration in Rice,Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 39:1-2, 302-313, DOI: 10.1080/00103620701759335

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00103620701759335

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Effects of Arsenic-Contaminated IrrigationWater on Growth, Yield, and Nutrient

Concentration in Rice

M. Hossain,1 M. R. Islam,1 M. Jahiruddin,1 A. Abedin,1

S. Islam,1 and A. A. Meharg2

1Department of Soil Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University,

Mymensingh, Bangladesh2School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen,

United Kingdom

Abstract: A study was undertaken to determine the effects of different concentrations

of arsenic (As) in irrigation water on Boro (dry-season) rice (Oryza sativa) and their

residual effects on the following Aman (wet-season) rice. There were six treatments,

with 0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2 mg As L21 applied as disodium hydrogen arsenate.

All the growth and yield parameters of Boro rice responded positively at lower concen-

trations of up to 0.25 mg As L21 in irrigation water but decreased sharply at concen-

trations more than 0.5 mg As L21. Arsenic concentrations in grain and straw of Boro

rice increased significantly with increasing concentration of As in irrigation water.

The grain As concentration was in the range of 0.25 to 0.97 mg g21 and its concen-

tration in rice straw varied from 2.4 to 9.6 mg g21 over the treatments. Residual As

from previous Boro rice showed a very similar pattern in the following Aman rice,

although As concentration in Aman rice grain and straw over the treatments was

almost half of the As levels in Boro rice grain. Arsenic concentrations in both grain

and straw of Boro and Aman rice were found to correlate with iron and be antagonistic

with phosphorus.

Keywords: Arsenic, grain arsenic, grain yield, irrigation, rice, straw arsenic

Received 13 February 2006, Accepted 1 March 2007

Address correspondence to M. R. Islam, Department of Soil Science, Bangladesh

Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh. E-mail: mrislam58@yahoo.

com

Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 39: 302–313, 2008

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN 0010-3624 print/1532-2416 online

DOI: 10.1080/00103620701759335

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INTRODUCTION

Contamination of groundwater by arsenic (As) in the Bengal Delta (West

Bengal, India and Bangladesh) is the worst environmental poisoning in

human history with more than 60 million people drinking 0.01 mg L21 As

(Chakraborti et al. 2004). In Bangladesh, about 3.86 million ha of land,

mainly rice paddy, is irrigated with groundwater, more than 81.63% of the

total irrigated area (BBS 2004), contributing considerably to the country’s

food grain production. Arsenic accumulation in paddy soils through ground-

water irrigation has occurred, resulting in elevated rice grain As (Duxbury

et al. 2003; Meharg and Rahman 2003; Williams et al. 2005). In a rice–rice

cropping system, irrigation water is applied during the Boro rice (dry-

season rice), and the following Aman rice (wet-season rice) is grown with

natural rainfall. Irrigation with As-contaminated groundwater directly

affects the immediate Boro rice (Abedin, Cotter-Howells, and Meharg

2002), and the residual As in soil may affect the Aman rice (Duxbury et al.

2003). Therefore, the present research was carried out to determine the

effects of As-contaminated irrigation water on growth, yield, and nutrient con-

centrations of Boro rice and their residual effects on the following Aman rice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A study was undertaken during the Boro and Aman seasons of 2003 to

evaluate the effect of As added through irrigation water on growth, yield,

and nutrient uptake of Boro rice and to determine the residual effects of the

added As on the following Aman rice. The soil was collected from Bangladesh

Agricultural University (BAU) farm, which was not irrigated with elevated As

water, at a depth of 0–15 cm. Texturally, the soil was silt loam having pH 6.5,

organic matter 1.9%, total nitrogen (N) 0.12%, available phosphorus (P)

10.2 mg g21, available sulfur (S) 10.3 mg g21, available zinc (Zn)

0.83 mg g21, available boron (B) 0.21 mg g21, available manganese (Mn)

11.03 mg g21, available iron (Fe) 54.2 mg g21, exchangeable potassium (K)

0.1 me%, exchangeable calcium (Ca) 5.37 me%, exchangeable magnesium

(Mg) 2.60 me%, exchangeable sodium (Na) 9.87 me%, and total As

2.1 mg g21. Ten kg air-dry soil was taken into a pot 43 cm in diameter and

40 cm high. There were six treatments: 0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2 mg L21

As, applied as disodium hydrogen arsenate in distilled water. The experiment

was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replicates

per treatment. A total of 56 L of irrigation solution was added to each pot

until the crop ripened. The variety for Boro rice was BRRI dhan 29 and for

Aman rice was BRRI dhan 33. For both Boro and Aman rice, every pot

received an equal amount of N, P, K, and S at the rate of 100 mg g21 N

from urea, 25 mg g21 P from potassium biphosphate, 40 mg g21 K from

muriate of potash (MOP), and 25 mg g21 S from gypsum. After harvest of

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Boro rice, all the pots were brought under Aman rice cultivation in the

following season. Aman rice was irrigated with natural rainfall. Data on

yield were recorded for both rice crops.

Rice grain and straw samples were digested with concentrated nitric acid

(HNO3) and 30% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) (Tang and Miller 1991). Total As

in the digest and water samples was determined followed by flow injection

hydride generation atomic absorption spectrophotometer (HG-AAS) with

UNICAM model 969 and MHS-10 hydride generator assembly using

matrix-matching standard. NIST SRM 1568, a rice flour, was used as

certified reference material (CRM), and the recovery was 86+ 6% (n ¼ 6).

The presented data have not been corrected for these recoveries. All the

plant data were statistically analyzed using the F test and Duncan’s multiple

range test (DMRT).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Boro Cultivation

Arsenic concentration in irrigation water showed a significant effect on the

yield-contributing characteristics of Boro rice (Table 1). Almost all the

growth parameters (plant height, number of effective tillers, filled grains

panicle21, and 1000-grain weight) decreased significantly with

2.0 mg As L21 in irrigation water, and unfilled grains panicle21 increased sig-

nificantly. The growth parameters responded positively at the lower range of

As up to 0.5 mg L21, moreover, plant height, filled grains panicle21, and

1000-grain weight were not much affected up to 1.0 mg As L21 in irrigation

water. In general, lower concentrations of As through irrigation water had

stimulatory effect on rice plants; a similar result was also reported by Islam

et al. (2004). Higher As concentration (2.0 mg L21) in irrigation water

decreased the number of filled grains panicle21 and the weight of 1000

grains, resulting in reduced grain yield of rice.

Results in Table 1 showed that the grain yield of BRRI dhan 29 was signifi-

cantly influenced by the application of As through irrigation water. The grain

yield of rice ranged from 41.0 g in 2.0 mg As L21 to 64.2 g in 0.1 mg As L21.

The application of irrigation water containing 0.1 mg As L21 produced the

highest grain yield. The toxic effect of As was evidenced beyond the application

of 0.5 mg As L21 in irrigation water, and thus the yield of rice decreased signifi-

cantly. Onken andHossner (1995) reported the rice yield reduction by 66%when

mean soil solution As concentration was raised to 1.5 mg As L21. Abedin,

Cotter-Howells, and Meharg (2002) also reported that arsenate-contaminated

irrigation water accounted for 26, 38, 56, and 65% yield reduction in 1, 2, 4,

and 8 mg As L21 treatment, respectively. Moreover, As in lower concentrations

increased grain yield; this was also supported by the yield-contributing character-

istics of rice. Islam et al. (2004) also supported the proposition.

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Table 1. Effects of arsenic added through irrigation water on the yield and yield-contributing characteristics of Boro rice cv. BRRI Dhan 29 (first

crop)

Treatment As

(mg L21)

Plant height

(cm)

Effective til-

lers pot21 (no.)

Filled grains

panicle21 (no.)

Unfilled grains

panicle21 (no.)

1000-grain

weight (g)

Grain yield

(g pot21)

Straw yield

(g pot21)

0 83.84a 28.3a 91.0ab 42.91a 20.4a 55.81ab 97.95ab

0.1 81.48a 29.0a 101.5a 45.85ab 19.7ab 64.15a 99.62a

0.25 83.27a 26.7a 104.6a 50.96ab 20.1a 61.29ab 99.78a

0.5 80.55a 28.7a 102.9a 47.31ab 19.9ab 60.61ab 99.22a

1 79.22a 23.0b 102.1a 52.6ab 19.8ab 52.38b 86.89b

2 73.57b 21.7b 78.9b 61.09b 18.9b 41.02c 66.53c

CV (%) 3.31 8.74 10.61 16.03 2.46 8.46 6.72

SE (+) 1.535 1.042 5.891 4.639 0.2817 2.728 3.554

Note: In a column, figures having the same letter do not differ significantly at the 5% level by DMRT.

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Table 2. Effects of arsenic added through irrigation water on nutrient concentrations of Boro rice cv. BRRI dhan 29 grain and straw

Treatment As

(mg L21)

Grain Straw

N (%) P (%) Fe (mg g21) As (mg g21) N (%) P (%) Fe (mg g21) As (mg g21)

0 1.12 0.14 79.1c 0.25c 0.58 0.07 198c 2.43d

0.1 1.08 0.13 79.8c 0.71b 0.58 0.07 212c 4.38c

0.25 1.12 0.17 80.3bc 0.89ab 0.56 0.07 216c 6.62b

0.5 1.12 0.15 81.9ab 0.91ab 0.56 0.07 230c 7.24b

1 1.09 0.12 82.7a 0.83ab 0.58 0.07 285b 7.14b

2 1.06 0.14 83.6a 0.97a 0.57 0.07 344a 9.57a

CV (%) 3.21 17.22 1.23 13.8 5.5 9.78 7.28 9.89

SE (+) NS NS 0.58 0.06 NS NS 10.4 0.36

Note: In a column, figures having the same letter do not differ significantly at the 5% level by DMRT.

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The straw yield of rice was also significantly influenced by the application

of As through irrigation water. The treatment receiving 0.25 mg As L21

yielded the highest (99.8 g), whereas the lowest straw production was

observed in the highest (2.0 mg As L21) treatment (66.5 g). The straw yield

decreased with increase in As concentration in irrigation water though the

rate of decrease was not sharp up to 1.0 mg As L21. Beyond that level of

As in irrigation water, straw yield decreased significantly by 12.7 and

47.2% compared to control at applications of 1.0 mg and 2.0 mg As L21,

respectively.

Nitrogen concentration in rice was not much affected by As concentration

up to 0.5 mg As L21 but decreased gradually with higher As concentrations

(.0.5 mg L21) (Table 2). Likewise P concentration in rice grain increased

up to the application of 0.25 mg As L21 in irrigation water, then decreased

gradually with increase in the concentration of As. The grain and straw iron

(Fe) concentrations increased significantly with increasing As concentration

in irrigation water. Arsenic concentrations in both rice grain and straw were

significantly increased with increasing As concentrations in irrigation water.

Arsenic concentration in rice grain ranged from 0.25 mg g21 to

0.97 mg g21, and its concentration in rice straw varied from 2.43 mg g21 to

9.57 mg g21 over the treatments. A significant positive correlation between

As and Fe concentration (Figures 1C and 1D) was observed in Boro

Figure 1. Relationship of P and Fe with As concentrations in Boro rice.

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Table 3. Residual effects of arsenic on the yield and yield-contributing characteristics of Aman rice cv. BRRI dhan 33 (second crop)

Treatment As

(mg L21)aPlant height

(cm)

Effective til-

lers pot21 (no.)

Filled grains

panicle21 (no.)

Unfilled grains

panicle21 (no.)

1000-grain

weight (g)

Grain yield

(g pot21)

Straw yield

(g pot21)

0 89.59a 22.7 97.6cd 46.17a 21.3 51.7bc 79.9

0.1 85.18bc 25.3 99.9bcd 46.42ab 22.2 57.7a 82.2

0.25 86.71abc 21.7 110.6a 38.62ab 22.4 58.4a 80.1

0.5 83.98c 22.3 109.1ab 45.02b 21.3 56.1ab 73.7

1 90.25a 24.3 107.2abc 46.94ab 21.5 56.9ab 85.1

2 88.59ab 24.0 94.7d 59.82ab 22.8 48.5c 76.5

CV (%) 2.34 9.09 5.23 15.88 10.8 5.01 8.09

SE (+) 1.179 NS 3.118 4.325 NS 1.586 NS

aArsenic was added in the previous Boro rice but not to this Aman rice.

Note: In a column, figures having the same letter do not differ significantly at the 5% level by DMRT.

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Table 4. Residual effect of arsenic on nutrient concentrations of Aman rice cv. BRRI dhan 33 grain and straw (second crop)

Treatment As

(mg L21)a

Grain Straw

P (%) N (%) Fe (mg g21) As (mg g21) P (%) N (%) Fe (mg g21) As (mg g21)

0 0.14 1.14 44.7d 0.08d 0.10 0.44 164e 1.05e

0.1 0.18 1.10 50.5c 0.18c 0.10 0.41 173de 1.98d

0.25 0.18 0.84 53.1bc 0.32b 0.10 0.49 189cd 2.69c

0.5 0.16 0.84 55.9b 0.30b 0.10 0.47 196bc 2.40cd

1 0.16 0.89 60.5a 0.43a 0.09 0.47 211b 4.13b

2 0.14 0.85 64.2a 0.45a 0.10 0.47 240a 5.44a

CV (%) 9.71 21.98 5.24 16.41 20.17 8.66 5.31 10.64

SE (+) NS NS 1.37 0.026 NS 0.091 5.99 0.18

aArsenic was added in the previous Boro rice but not to this Aman rice.

Note: In a column, figures having the same letter do not differ significantly at the 5% level by DMRT.

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rice grain and straw, but there was no clear relationship with P (Figures 1A

and 1B).

Aman Cultivation

The application of different concentrations of As in irrigation water had

significant residual effects on yield-contributing characteristics of Aman rice

regarding plant height, filled grains panicle21, and unfilled grains panicle21

(Table 3). The number of fertile tillers pot21 and 1000-grain weight were

not significantly affected with As application in the previous crop.

There was significant residual effect of As on the grain yield of Aman rice

at applications of 0.25 mg As L21 to Boro rice (Table 3), similar to Islam et al.

(2004). The highest residual As performed the lowest grain yield, showing a

6.6% yield decrease over the control. Application of As in the previous

Boro rice did not significantly reduced the straw yield of Aman rice in spite

of a general trend of a decrease in straw yield. The application of

1.0 mg As L21 in the Boro rice resulted in the highest straw yield of Aman

rice and the lowest at 2.0 mg As L21 (Table 3).

The concentrations of N and P in Aman rice grain were not significantly

affected by an increase in As application through irrigation water during the

previous Boro cultivation (Table 4). The N and P concentrations in rice

Figure 2. Relationship of P and Fe with As concentrations in T Aman rice.

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Table 5. Arsenic balance in soil after two rice croppings

Treatment As

(mg L21)

Background

As in soil

(mg pot21)

Arsenic added

through irrigation

water (mg pot21)

Total As in soil

(mg pot21)

Total As uptake

by two rice crops

(mg pot21)

Predicted As in soil

after harvest of two

rice (mg pot21)

Observed As in soil

after harvest of two

rice (mg pot21)

As not

detected

(%)

0 21 0 21.0 0.34 20.7 18.3 11.5

0.1 21 5.6 26.6 0.65 26.0 21.6 16.8

0.25 21 14 35.0 0.94 34.1 28.15 17.3

0.5 21 28 49.0 0.97 48.0 40.6 15.5

1 21 56 77.0 1.04 76.0 65.5 13.8

2 21 112 133.0 1.11 131.9 110.1 16.5

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straw showed a trend similar to that observed in grain. Arsenic and Fe concen-

trations in Aman rice grain and straw increased significantly with increase in

As concentrations of irrigation water applied to Boro rice. Like Boro rice, the

As concentration of Aman rice was positively correlated to Fe concentration

(Figures 2C and 2D) with no pattern to P concentration (Figures 2A and 2B).

The straw As concentration was almost 15 times higher than the grain As con-

centration. Arsenic concentrations in Aman rice grains and straw were almost

half compared to those found in Boro rice.

Arsenic Content in Postharvest Soil

The background As of the soil was 2.1 mg kg21 (i.e., the As content of each

pot was 21 mg with 10 kg soil in each pot). A total of 56 l As-contaminated

irrigation water of different treatments was added in each pot. Therefore,

the addition of As through irrigation water varied from 0 to 112 mg pot21

(Table 5). A negligible amount of As was taken up by the two consecutive

rice crops. The observed As in soil after harvest of two rice corps was

11.5–17.3% lower than the predicted total As in soil after harvest of two

rice corps, probably due to arsine formation (Turpeinen et al. 1999), adsorp-

tion by the earthen pot, loss due to overflow of water during the wet season,

or As volatilization through methylation (Meharg and Rahman 2003).

CONCLUSIONS

These experiments show that both yield and grain As burden is negatively

affected by the presence of As in irrigation water, and that dry-season cultiva-

tion has a residual effect on wet-season rice. With each dry season that passes,

the levels of As will build up in paddy soil in the As-affected aquifer regions of

Bangladesh (Meharg and Rahman 2003), and the subsistence food of the

region, paddy rice, becomes more and more As contaminated. Already in

Bangladesh, levels of As in rice grain are so high as to exceed international

standards on the quantity of As ingested per day (Meharg and Rahman

2003; Williams et al. 2005).

REFERENCES

Abedin, M.J., Cotter-Howells, J., and Meharg, A.A. (2002) Arsenic uptake andaccumulation in rice (Oryza sativa L.) irrigated with contaminated water. Plantand Soil, 240 (2): 311–319.

BBS (Bangladesh Burea of Statistics). 2004. Year Book of Agricultural Statistics ofBangladesh; Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics: Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka,Bangladesh.

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Islam, M.R., Islam, S., Jahiruddin, M., and Islam, M.A. (2004) Effects of irrigationwater arsenic in the rice–rice cropping system. Online J. Biol. Sci., 4 (4): 542–546.

Meharg, A.A. and Rahman, M.M. (2003) Arsenic contamination of Bangladesh paddyfield soils: implications for rice contribution to arsenic consumption. Environ. Sci.Technol., 37 (2): 229–234.

Onken, B.M. and Hossner, L.R. (1995) Plant uptake and determination of arsenicspecies in soil solution under flooded condition. J. Environ. Qual., 12: 199–208.

Tang, T. and Miller, D.M. (1991) Growth and tissue composition of rice grown in soiltreated with inorganic copper, nickel and arsenic. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal., 22:2037–2045.

Turpeinen, R., Pantsar-Kallio, M., Haggblom, M., and Kiresalo, T. (1999) Influence ofmicrobes on the mobilization, toxicity and biomethylation of arsenic in soil. Sci. Tot.Environ., 236: 173–180.

Williams, P.N., Price, A.H., Raab, A., Hossain, S.A., Feldmann, J., and Meharg, A.(2005) Variation in arsenic speciation and concentration in paddy rice related todietary exposure. Environ. Sci. Technol., 39: 5531–5540.

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