Impact of irrigation and organic matter amendments on arsenic accumulation in selected vegetables

B. Das, M.K. Pandit, K. Ray, K. Bhattacharyya, A. Pari and P. Sidhya
Additional contact information
B. Das: Department of Vegetable Crops, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India
M.K. Pandit: Department of Vegetable Crops, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India
K. Ray: Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India
K. Bhattacharyya: Department of Agriculture, Chemistry and Soil Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India
A. Pari: Department of Agriculture, Chemistry and Soil Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India
P. Sidhya: Department of Vegetable Crops, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India

Plant, Soil and Environment, 2016, vol. 62, issue 6, 266-273

Abstract: The present study was set up to investigate the effect of irrigation with naturally arsenic (As)-contaminated water and addition of organic amendments on the As accumulation in frequently consumed vegetables in India (pumpkin, radish and cabbage). An arsenic-stricken village (Ghentugachi, Chakdah Block, Nadia, West Bengal, India; 23°02'N, 88°34'E, 9.75 m a.s.l.) was selected. Pot studies were conducted with the selected vegetables in contaminated soils collected from the selected village. Arsenic-contaminated water (spiked with varying concentrations of AsIII and AsV) was used to irrigate the pots. Use of irrigation water contaminated with arsenic (both AsIII and AsV) reduced the germination and inhibited photosynthetic pigmentation. AsIII contamination remained more harmful. The worst situation was encountered with AsIII contamination at 0.5 mg/L of irrigation water while AsV contamination below 0.2 mg/L of irrigation water remained safe. Field experiments with the selected vegetables were undertaken in the arsenic-stricken village where irrigation water (0.32 ± 0.12 mg/L) and soil (total As 18.15 ± 2.12 mg/kg) were contaminated with arsenic, to characterize the arsenic contamination of the vegetables, to assess the risk of dietary exposure and to study the effect of organic amendments on such contaminations. Vegetable roots accumulated more As than other parts and the accumulation increased with age. Pond (surface) water emerged as safer source for irrigation than shallow tube well water. Organic amendments reduced arsenic contamination significantly and vermicompost was the most efficient in this regard. All the vegetables showed risk (> 100% provisional tolerable weekly intake) of dietary exposure to arsenic.

Keywords: toxicity; farmyard manure; Cucurbita pepo; Raphanus sativus; Brassica oleracea; groundwater (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/363/2015-PSE.html (text/html)
http://pse.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/363/2015-PSE.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlpse:v:62:y:2016:i:6:id:363-2015-pse

DOI: 10.17221/363/2015-PSE

Access Statistics for this article

Plant, Soil and Environment is currently edited by Kateřina Součková

More articles in Plant, Soil and Environment from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().