Rice Grain Quality

Description

The lack of micronutrients (like zinc) and presence of a toxins (like arsenic and methylmercury) in rice grain adversely impact the health of hundreds of millions of people. We are working to understand soil and climate factors that control concentrations of these elements in rice grain.  While human health depends on having enough food to eat, the nutritional quality of the food is equally important, particularly in developing countries where grain is the primary food source. We have conducted investigations focused on the: 

1. connection between warmer temperatures and increased arsenic uptake by rice,

2. impact of elevated CO2 on methylmercury concentrations in rice,

3. influence that rice plants have on rates of mercury methylation in soils, and

4. effect of hydropower development and altered flooding regimes on rice quality in the Tonle Sap region of Cambodia.

People Involved

Past - Becca Neumann . Yasmine Farhat . Rachel Strickman . Soo-Hyung Kim (UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences) . Gordon Holtgrieve (UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences) 

Funding

FY2017 National Science Foundation, Geobiology and Low Temperature Geochemistry Program

FY2017 National Science Foundation, Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems

FY2016 University of Washington Innovation Award

Press & Outreach

Publications

Ebi KL, Anderson CL, Hess JJ, et al (2021) Nutritional quality of crops in a high CO2 world: an agenda for research and technology development. Environ Res Lett. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfcfa

Farhat YA, Kim S-H, Seyfferth AL, et al (2021) Altered arsenic availability, uptake, and allocation in rice under elevated temperature. Science of The Total Environment 763:143049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143049

Farhat YA, Kim S-H, Neumann RB (2023) When does temperature matter? Response of rice arsenic to heat exposure during different developmental stages. Plant Soil 491:369–386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06122-3

Farhat, Y. A., Muth, E.-N., Cheythyrith, C., Hok, L., Holtgrieve, G. W., Kim, S.-H., & Neumann, R. B. (2025). Arsenic and zinc cycling in Cambodian rice fields of the Tonle Sap floodplain. Science of The Total Environment, 975, 179261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179261

Neumann RB, Seyfferth AL, Teshera-Levye J, Ellingson J (2017) Soil Warming Increases Arsenic Availability in the Rice Rhizosphere. Agricultural & Environmental Letters 2:. https://doi.org/10.2134/ael2017.02.0006

Strickman RJ, Larson S, Huang H, et al (2022) The relative importance of mercury methylation and demethylation in rice paddy soil varies depending on the presence of rice plants. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 230:113143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.113143

Strickman RJ, Larson S, Farhat YA, et al (2024) Effects of elevated CO2 on MeHg and IHg in rice. Environmental Advances 16:100515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envadv.2024.100515