Arsenic (As) contamination of soil is a critical human health issue, Traditional methods of determining the presence and extent of As contamination focus largely on tedious and expensive soil sampling. Remote sensing of plant tissue may provide a practical alternative to detect arsenic contamination in soils. The objective of the study is to identify spectral signatures that indicate the impact and content of arsenic in plant leaves. The resulting information will be essential to determine whether remote-sensing technology can be used for detecting arsenic stress in vegetable crops using the spectral reflectance of vegetation. rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Jefferson)was grown hydroponically and treated with with 0, 5, 10 and 15 μmol L−1 As (0, 0.37, 0.72 and 1.12 mg As L−1) for 8 weeks in a growth chamber. Leaf reflectance and transmittance were measured with an integrating sphere coupled to a spectroradiometer across the 400 to 2,400-nm wavelength range at approximately 1-nm intervals. Linear relationships were developed between significant reflectance and/or transmittance factors and As treatments.