Translocation of soil arsenic towards accumulation in rice: magnitude of water management to minimize health risk

Globally, the risk of arsenic (As) contamination in soil and rice is well documented across the globe. In Bangladesh, drinking water and rice are two major exposure pathways of As to humans. Therefore, the efficiency of recent technologies to reduce rice As and associated human health risks still need to be deeply investigated. In this direction, a pot experiment was performed to investigate the impact of soil As and agronomic irrigation management on rice (cv. BRRI dhan28) growth, yield, As accumulation, and finally, health risks to humans from consuming rice. Treatment combinations were made with three levels of As (0, 20, and 40 mg kg−1) having two irrigation procedures, including alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and traditional continuous flooding (CF). According to the findings, As pollution in the soil lowered the yield contributing features and rice yield, including panicle length, filled grains per panicle, sterile grains per panicle, 1000-grain weight, grain yield, and straw yield. AWD water management significantly improved the growth performance and productivity of rice. Grain yield was increased by 13% in AWD compared to CF. Rice grain and straw As concentrations were increased to 0.56 mg kg−1 and 15.10 mg kg−1, respectively, in soil with 40 mg kg−1 As and CF water management. AWD treatment significantly reduced grain and straw As contents by 16% and 28%, respectively. Increased grain, straw, and total As uptake was noticed with higher soil As concentrations. The study also found that rising soil As raised non-carcinogenic risks (HQ > 1) and carcinogenic risks (CR > 1.010–4) while AWD lowered health risks compared to CF. Thus, rice farming using AWD irrigation could be a viable and long-term solution for reducing As contamination in rice and associated human health hazards.