Dinâmica do arsénio no sistema solo-água-arroz

Abstract

Paddy rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food consumed worldwide especially in Asia and one of the major sources of dietary arsenic, an important carcinogen. The concentration of arsenic in rice is becoming an important concern in Portugal. Soil and water samples from several paddy fields were analyzed regarding a range of geochemical parameters in order to assess their importance to the concentration of arsenic in rice grains. There was a correlation between the content of arsenic in grains and the available fraction of arsenic and the organic carbon in the soil. Some cytogenetic differences were observed in root tip cell of seedlings grown from grains with different arsenic concentrations like some cytogenetic alterations in the seedlings with higher arsenic content.