Seed P content: a potential marker of arsenic tolerance during germination and seedling growth of rice

Seed phosphorus is important for early seedling growth. Increase in seed P is believed to improve seedling establishment and vigour. Arsenic is an environmental contaminant causing widespread toxicity, in the agricultural system as a result of continuous lifting of contaminated ground water for irrigation. The present experiment was aimed to investigate the tolerance of popular rice cultivars, 'Satabdi', 'Kargil Minikit', 'Lallat' and 'Khitish', to arsenic stress during early seedling growth and to correlate the responses with grain phosphorus content. Both germination percentage and seedling growth parameters were negatively aff ected with increasing arsenic in all rice cultivars. However, 'Khitish' showed better response than other cultivars under arsenic stress. The correlation studies revealed that grain phosphorus content was positively associated with arsenic tolerance at germination and early seedling stage and its eff ect was more pronounced particularly under higher arsenic levels.