Growth Effect and Accumulation of as on / in Two Vegetables in Three Types of Chinese Soil

Abstract

Greenhouse trials with brassica camprestris (BC) and raphanns sativns (RS) grown in three types of Chinese soils (Henan fluvo-aquic soil; Jilin black soil; and Hunan red soil) were conducted to evaluate the growth effect and accumulation of As on/in vegetables resulting from different arsenic contents in soils. The arsenic uptake rate of the vegetables response to type of soils and investigated plant species as well. Experimental results show that low arsenic content in soil has no effect on vegetable growth, but promote the biomass of vegetables. However, higher arsenic concentrations in soils lead to decrease in growth of both leaf- and root systems of the vegetables, especially when arsenic concentration is above 90 mg kg-1 in the soil. Arsenic levels in soils and vegetables correlated positively according to the experimental results. The tests also reveal that vegetables grown in alkali soils may accumulate more arsenic than that in acid soils, which suggests that arsenic in different types of soil may have different impacts on vegetables even with the same concentration. Arsenic concentration in RS is always higher than that in BC during the experiments, which indicates root vegetables may, have greater ability for arsenic uptake from soil than leafy vegetables potentially.