Replacing conventional surface irrigation with micro-irrigation in vegetables can alleviate arsenic toxicity and improve water productivity

Arsenic (As), a heavy metal(loid), is exceedingly hazardous and carcinogenic and harms people, soil, plants, and water. Vegetable consumption can be a source for the absorption of As in humans. To find a feasible mitigation technique, a field experiment was conducted with broccoli (cv. Green Magic) and cauliflower (cv. Pusa Snowball) in geogenically arsenic-contaminated areas (West Bengal, India) for two consecutive years in a randomized block design replicated seven times with surface irrigation of 20 mm depth, gravity drip and sprinkler irrigation at 1.0 and 0.7 of pan evaporation replenishment. Results revealed that the lowest As accumulation in the edible heads was accomplished by micro-irrigation (0.34 and 0.31 mg kg -1) over the farmer's practice of surface irrigation (0.42 and 0.38 mg kg -1) for broccoli and cauliflower. Micro-irrigation improved the average head yield by 5.26 and 6.53%, weight by 6.37 and 3.06%, and diameter by 1.14 and 1.23% for broccoli and cauliflower respectively and also resulted in substantial water saving to an extent of 37.3%. Further reduction in As stress reduced the activity of antioxidant enzymes like catalase, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase; and reduced the dietary carcinogenic risk like Severity Adjusted Margin of Exposure (SAMOE) from moderate-high to low. Accordingly,drip irrigation without water stress can benefit vegetable growing in the As-contaminated regions based on the competitive advantage.