Arsenate toxicity for wheat and lettuce in six Chinese soils with different properties

To assess soil arsenic (As, in the form of arsenate) toxicity to plants, 6-d root elongation tests on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa) were conducted in six Chinese soils freshly spiked with As. Plants were treated with 7 or 10 levels of As to establish concentration-effect curves. Median effective concentration and 10% effective concentration values were derived with regression analysis to measure As toxic potencies, and no-observed-effect concentration was determined by comparison with a control to elucidate thresholds of As to the two plant species. The median effective concentration values for As varied from 159 to 683 mg/kg for wheat and 59 to 426 mg/kg for lettuce, and the 10% effective concentration values varied from 79 to 270 mg/kg for wheat and 20 to 156 mg/kg for lettuce. The result suggests that lettuce is a more sensitive species for monitoring soil As contamination. With the same level of As spiked, soil toxicity for a plant showed a tendency of fluvoaquic soil toward red soil or black soil toward paddy soil. The phytotoxicity of As was negatively correlated with soil amorphous iron content extracted with ammonium oxalate. The overall results from the present work illustrate the necessity of considering soil properties in assessing soil As contamination.