Arsenic toxicity studies in soil and in culture solution

Journal Article · Tue Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1946 · Pac. Sci.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6469653

Clements, H F; Munson, J

Studies made with plants treated with sodium arsenate and sodium arsenite in culture solutions show trivalent arsenic to be approximately 10 times as toxic to Sudan grass and tomato plants as the pentavalent form and approximately four times as toxic to bean plants as the pentavalent form. The trivalent form acts more quickly and violently on plant tissues. Studies on the relationship of the phosphorus level to the toxicity of pentavalent arsenic show that an increase in the phosphorus level materially reduces the absorption of arsenic by bean, Sudan grass, and tomato plants. The phosphorus was found to have little or no effect on the toxicity of the element after it has been taken into the plant. Results are presented for several crops of Sudan grass, tomato, and bean plants in a re-cropping experiment with red and black soils treated with increments of sodium arsenite. Growth curtailment, however, was observed to take place each time at the same levels of soil arsenic, irrespective of the levels of arsenic absorbed. It was found that the plant species varied in the ability to withdraw arsenic from the soil medium, tomato and bean being low and Sudan grass high in ability to withdraw the element. Sudan grass and tomato plants were grown in a black alluvial soil treated with sodium arsenite, and the results were compared to those in the red soil experiment. Marked differences were found in the response of the plants to a certain concentration of arsenic in the two soils. Whereas in culture solution Sudan grass was a tolerant to arsenic as the tomato and much more so than the bean, in soil, Sudan grass was less tolerant to arsenic than either. The removal of soil arsenic by crops which are tolerant to arsenic will at best be a very slow process. 50 references, 5 figures, 11 tables.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu
• OSTI ID: 6469653
• Journal Information: Pac. Sci.; (United States), Journal Name: Pac. Sci.; (United States) Vol. 1:3; ISSN PASCA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560303* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Plants-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ABSORPTION
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ARSENATES
ARSENIC
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BODY
CULTURE MEDIA
ELEMENTS
FOOD
GRASS
LAND POLLUTION
LEGUMINOSAE
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASEOLUS
PLANT TISSUES
PLANTS
POLLUTION
SEMIMETALS
SENSITIVITY
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SOILS
TISSUES
TOLERANCE
TOMATOES
TOXICITY
VALENCE
VEGETABLES
YIELDS