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Response of Arum (colocasia Antiquorum) to Different Levels of Arsenic (as) Treatments

S. Parvin
Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

M. H. Rashid
Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

J. C. Joardar
Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

Dr. S. M. Imamul Huq
Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

An experiment was conducted with one variety Bilasi, and two germ plasms - Mukhi-029 and Mukhi-140 of arum to compare their responses to different levels of arsenic. All these materials showed severe symptoms of As toxicity - reduced vegetative growth - at As application of 80 mg/1. Arsenic treatments had significant (p = 0.002) negative effect on dry matter production of the individual material as well as As accumulation (p < 0.001). Mukhi-029 accumulated the maximum amount of arsenic (334.33 mg/kg) followed by Muk.hi-140 (209.73 mg/kg) and Bilasi (195.88 mg/kg). The As accumulation followed the order: Mukhi-029 > Mukhi-140 > Bilasi while the individual plant parts followed the order: root > stem > leaf irrespective of the variety or germplasm.

Keywords: Arsenic, Arum, Uptake, Dry matter

Location: Dhamrai, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Crop-Soil-Water Management

Commodity: Arsenic, Contamination of soil, Aroids

Objectives:

To conduct with one variety and two germplasm of Arum to see their relative Arsenic accumulation capacity.

Methodology:

The experiment was conducted in the Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka. Soil was collected from Dhamrai in the district of Dhaka where groundwater contamination by arsenic has not been reported. The soil samples representing 0 - 15 cm depth from the surface were collected by composite soil sampling method as suggested by the Soil Survey Staff of the USDA. The collected soil samples were made free from the visible roots and debris, air-dried, ground and sieved through .a 0.5 mm stainless steel sieve. The sieved samples were then mixed thoroughly and used for further analysis. Three different arum (Colocasia antiquorum) viz. Bilasi, Mukhi kachu-029 and Mukhi kachu-140 were procured from the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARD, Gazipur. The treatments chosen were 0, 5, 20, 40 and 80 mg/l As applied through irrigation water. The background level of As in the collected soil sample was 1.5 mg/kg. This was considered as control and treatments were added in solution made with sodium meta-arsenite ( NaAs0₂). Four kg soil was put in pots of 4 L size having no holes at the bottom. The soil in each pot was mixed with urea, muriate of potash (MP) and triple super phosphate (TSP) as per requirement at rates estimated according to fertilizer recommendation guide.191 Four arum seeds were sown in each of the pots and allowed to germinate. The pots were arranged in the net house in a completely randomized way. Positions of the pots were changed every alternate day to allow equal exposure of each of the pots to sunlight. Treatment plants received water with arsenic solution while the control plants received only tap water every alternate day from seed sowing till plant harvest. Each treatment was replicated thrice. The total amount of As treated irrigation water applied was recorded. Adequate plant protection measures were taken. Plants were harvested and uprooted at 90 days after seedling emergence. The harvested roots were washed with deionized distilled water several times to remove the soil adhering to it and to free the ions from the root free space. The aerial parts of plants were also washed. The plant samples were separated into three parts - root, leaf and stem. The collected plant samples were first air-dried and then oven dried at 70 ± 5⁰c for 48 hours and the dry weight of plant sample was measured. The dried plant samples were then ground and sieved through a 0.2 mm sieve for further analysis. After harvesting, soil samples in each pot were also collected from the rhizosphere and prepared for analysis as mentioned above. The various physical, chemical and physiochemical properties of the soils were determined following procedures described earlier. Both plant and soil were analyzed for total arsenic by hydride generated atomic absorption spectrometry (HG AAS) while iron and manganese were determined by AAS. Arsenic, iron and manganese of plant samples were extracted with HN0₃ and of the soil with aqua regia solution. Certified reference materials were carried through the digestion and analyzed as part of the quality assurance/quality control protocol. Reagent blanks and internal standards were used where appropriate to ensure accuracy and precision in the analysis of arsenic. Each batch of 20 samples was accompanied with reference standard samples to ensure strict QA/QC procedures.

Source of Information: Dhaka Univ. J. Bio. Sci. 15(1): 11-21, 2006 (January)

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

From the present findings it is clear that arsenic accumulation in the arums differed significantly from one another. Among the arums, Mukhi-029 accumulated the maximum amount of arsenic compared to either Mukhi-140 or Bilasi. The literature reports that arum (Colocasia antiquorum) showed very high accumulation of arsenic (153.2 mg/kg dry wt.) grown with As contaminated water-41. These authors studied the accumulation of As in different parts of arum, though nothing was done on the response of different arum. Very high level of arsenic in taro (loti from arum plant, 440 pg/kg) has also been reported. In a more recent study, the leaf of arum was found to contain between 90 and 3990 pg/kg of arsenic. In the present study it was clear that As uptake by root was the maximum for the arum Mukhi-029 (334.33 mg/kg) compared to Mukhi-140 (209.73 mg/kg) and Bilasi (195.88 mg/kg). It could thus be concluded that, Bilasi could preferably be grown in As contaminated areas to minimize As ingestion through arum.

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