Influence of irrigation methods on arsenic speciation in rice grain.

Although the bioaccumulation of arsenic (As) in rice grains is a global health issue, its speciation is not less worrying. Despite the ascertained effectiveness of the intermittent irrigation methods in minimizing the amount of total As in rice, knowledge of its influence on the As speciation has been insufficient so far. Hence, this contribution was aimed to measure the concentrations of As(III), As(V), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), and monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) in grains from twenty-six different rice genotypes irrigated either with continuous flooding (CF), periodic saturation (SA) or sprinkler irrigation (SP).

Assessment and validation of ICP-MS and IC-ICP-MS methods for the determination of total, extracted and speciated arsenic. Application to samples from a soil-rice system at varying the irrigation method.

Food is the major route of arsenic (As) intake for humans, and rice is the staple food for more than half of the world's population. Unfortunately, rice bioaccumulates large amounts of As from the paddy field, and the toxicity of this element in the kernel is closely linked to its chemical form. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to have access to an integrated set of analytical methods, capable of measuring the concentration of As in its various chemical forms in soil and rice.