Reducing Arsenic Uptake in Cereal Crop Plants with Sugarcane Waste Application: A Comparative Study on the Effects on Physiology, Biochemistry, and Grain Nutrient Status

C 3 ( Oryza sativa L.) and C 4 ( Zea mays L.) plants differ both in their carbon fixing mechanism, and thus, their responses toward stresses also differ. Owing to the mutually competitive nature of uptake between phosphate (iP) and arsenate (AsV) in plants, and given that the level of sucrose is also influenced by iP, interplay of their uptake mechanisms eventually results in reducing the AsV uptakes. The present study intends to comparatively assess the reduction in AsIII and AsV uptake and its toxicity between Oryza sativa L. and Zea mays L. when cultivated with sucrose-containing sugarcane wastes (SWs; bagasse, molasses, and pressmud) conducted under a simulated outdoor pot experiment. Overall improvement in growth, physiological performance, stress, and antioxidant response was exhibited in both the plants with SWs application. The SWs application also improved soil physiochemical parameters viz, pH, EC, OC, OM, and micronutrients. Application of SW also reduced the iAs accumulation in grains of both rice (50–87%) and maize (70–96%), along with enhancement in Fe (142%, and 122%, respectively), and Zn (132% and 131%, respectively). Most of the 17 grain’s amino acids (AAs) increased in maize against iAs stress, whereas Ser decreased in both, and Ile and Gly additionally in rice. Essential AAs viz. Phe, Thr, and Met are influenced negatively by iAs, whereas nonessential AAs viz. Cys, Ser, Pro, Gly in both the plant grains are positively influenced by iP and negatively by OC. Thus, the application of SWs containing residual sucrose > 9.5 µM g −1 , through a fertilizer formulation or by direct soil amendments in iAs-contaminated soil can be an agronomic practice to reduce the iP fertilization and limit the iAs contamination in the food-chain.