Methylmercury Accumulation in Rice Grain (

In 2010, 50 indica rice varieties were cultivated in three sites in southwestern China along a contamination gradient (background, moderately-contaminated and highly-contaminated sites) to determine environment and genotype controls on MeHg accumulation in polished white rice and bran. Rice grain MeHg concentrations were significantly higher in the moderately-contaminated site compared to the other two sites (ANOVA, p<0.0001). Lower rice grain MeHg concentrations in the highly-contaminated site possibly reflected differences in surface water pH (highly-contaminated site: pH 11, other two sites: pH 7.6-8.0). More alkaline conditions at the highly-contaminated site possibly decreased the bioavailability of MeHg and/or other trace elements, thus lowering the uptake of MeHg from paddy soil to rice grain. Polished white rice MeHg concentrations were significantly associated with rice genotype (p