Author(s)

Ishrat Jahan Sanchary¹, Shah Muhammad Imamul Huq^2*

¹Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Barisal, Barisal, Bangladesh.
²Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Availability of soil arsenic (As) and plant As at various levels of zinc (Zn) and As applications were examined. A pot-culture experiment with a leafy vegetable, Kalmi (Ipomoea aquatica), on an Inceptisols, was conducted where As was applied with irrigation water at the rates of 0 mg/L (As control), 0.5 mg/L, 1 mg/L and 2 mg/L and Zn was added to the soil as ZnCl₂ solution at the rate of 0 mg/L (Zn control), 1 mg/L, 2 mg/L and 3 mg/L during pot preparation. The experiment was conducted in triplicates for 45 days till the plants were grown to maturity. At the end of the experiment the remedial effect of Zn on As toxicity was examined and as such, yield parameters, As and Zn accumulation in Kalmi plants, residual concentrations of As and Zn in soils and plants were measured. It appeared from the present study that there exists an antagonistic relationship between Zn and As i.e., Zn in soils was found to reduce As availability in soils as well as its accumulation in plants, particularly at an elevated application rate of 3 mg/L Zn. The findings could be used as a strategy to mitigate arsenic toxicity in As contaminated soils.

Remediation, Arsenic, Soil-Plant System

Sanchary, I. and Huq, S. (2017) Remediation of Arsenic Toxicity in the Soil-Plant System by Using Zinc Fertilizers. Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Environment, 6, 30-37. doi: 10.4236/jacen.2017.61002.