REGULAR ARTICLE Effects of simultaneous arsenic and iron toxicities on rice (Oryza sativa L.) development, yield-related parameters and As and Fe accumulation in relation to As speciation in the grains Delphine Vromman & Stanley Lutts & Isabelle Lefèvre & Laurent Somer & Olivier De Vreese & Zdenka Šlejkovec & Muriel Quinet Received: 5 October 2012 / Accepted: 4 March 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract Background and aim In numerous areas, rice cultivat- ed under flooded conditions is exposed simultaneous- ly to iron excess and arsenic contamination. The impact of these combined stresses on yield-related parameters and As distribution and speciation in var- ious plant parts remains poorly documented. Methods Rice (cv I Kong Pao) was exposed to iron excess (125 mgL -1 Fe 2 SO 4 ), arsenic (50 and 100 μM Na 2 HAsO 4 .7H 2 O) or a combination of those stressing agents in hydroponic culture until harvest. Plant growth, yield-related parameters, non protein thiols concentration and mineral nutrition were studied in roots and shoots. Arsenic speciation was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Key Results Iron excess increased As retention by the roots in relation to the development of the root iron plaque but decreased As accumulation in the shoot. Arsenic concentration was lower in the grains than in the shoots. Iron stress reduced As accumulation in the husk but not in the dehusked grains. Iron excess de- creased the proportion of extractable As(III) and As (V) in the grain while it increased the proportion of extractable As(III) in the shoot. Combined stresses (Fe+As) affected plant nutrition and significantly re- duced the plant yield by limiting the number of grains per plant and the grain filling. Conclusions Fe excess had an antagonist impact on shoot As concentration but an additive negative impact on several yield-related parameters. Iron stress influ- ences both As distribution and As speciation in rice. Keywords Iron plaque . Iron stress . Arsenic . Oryza sativa . Rice . Rice grain arsenic Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa) is a staple crop for over half of the world’ s population. In numerous areas where it is cultivated, irrigation often carries polluted water to Plant Soil DOI 10.1007/s11104-013-1676-2 Responsible Editor: Henk Schat. D. Vromman : S. Lutts (*) : I. Lefèvre : L. Somer : O. De Vreese : M. Quinet Groupe de Recherche en Physiologie végétale (GRPV), Earth and Life Institute – Agronomy (ELI-A), Université catholique de Louvain, Croix du Sud 4-5, boîte L7.07.13, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium e-mail: stanley.lutts@uclouvain.be Z. Šlejkovec Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia