Genetic Assessment of the suitability of selected methods for species level determination of arsenic in some contaminated inceptisols of West Bengal

Abstract

Elevated level of arsenic in agricultural soils cause potential toxicity to human health, plants and microbes through food-chain, the magnitude being the highest in Bangladesh, followed by West Bengal, India. Since the toxicity and bioavailability varies with arsenic species, it is essential to develop and standardize suitable methodology to estimate arsenic species separately in different matrices. In this study, an attempt has been made to assess the suitabilities of three different extractants, namely orthophosphoric acid (1M H3PO4, pH 1.39), ammonium dihydrogen orthophosphate (1M NH4H2PO4, pH 4.14) and di ammonium hydrogen = orthophosphate [1M (NH4)2HPO4, pH 8.26], in determining the arsenic species in selected contaminated inceptisols of West Bengal. The results showed that the extraction efficiency varies with the composition of the extraction solution. The lowest recovery (3.74-17.61%) were obtained with the 1M (NH4)2HPO4, pH 8.26, the highest recovery (34.89-73.29%) obtained with the 1M H3PO4, pH 1.39 and 4.04-52.30% recovery was obtained using 1M NH4H2PO4, pH 4.14.

Keywords

• Arsenic
• Extractant
• Soil