Arsenic mobility in saline soil and its impact on plant growth

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the mobility of arsenic in saline soil and its consequences on plant growth. Two different types of saline soils, S₁ (2.0 dS/m) and S₂ (5.06 dS/m), collected from the south-western part of Bangladesh were used for the experiment. There were two parts in the experiment, viz., in vitro incubation study and pot experiment. Arsenic at the rates of 0, 0.05 and 1.0 mg/l was applied to the soil with water and for plant as irrigation water. The soils under incubation were sequentially extracted with seven different extractants viz., distilled water, 1M NH₄Cl, 0.01M CaCl₂, 0.005M DTPA, 0.1M EDTA, 0.1M HCl and 1M HCl. A local variety of rice, BRRI 41 was grown on the experimental soil as the test crop for pot experiment. The elevated arsenic concentration in the growth medium caused higher accumulation of arsenic as well as sodium in the plant.

Bangladesh J. Sci. Res. 29(2): 153-161, December-2016