PubMed · 2026-05-13
Adding fulvic acid to flooded rice paddies changes how iron minerals and organic matter interact in the soil, which in turn affects how much cadmium and arsenic rice plants can absorb. The study found that fulvic acid reduced the availability of cadmium while influencing arsenic mobility in complex ways over a 60-day period.
Fulvic acid addition significantly decreased water-soluble cadmium (measured as CaCl2-extractable Cd) in flooded paddy soil over 60 days.
DOM and iron fractions co-varied in response to fulvic acid, meaning changes in organic matter and iron chemistry are linked and jointly govern metal mobility.
The experiment ran under flooded (anaerobic/reduction) conditions for 60 days, capturing the redox-driven chemistry that dominates waterlogged paddy environments during the growing season.
