The interplay between rice roots and manuring with respect to arsenic speciation, subsequent assimilation into roots, and translocation to shoots in paddy soil was investigated, alongside bacterial diversity characterization. Planting increased soil Eh and decreased soil solution arsenic species: inorganic arsenic, monomethylarsonic acid, trimethylarsenic oxide, and dimethylarsinic acid. Presence of plant roots increased the copy number of Clostridiumand Tumebacillus16S rRNA as well as Streptomycesarsenic methylating gene (arsM), but decreased Acidobacteria_GP116S rRNA and Rhodopseudomonas. palustris BisB5 arsM. Sum of arsenic species decreased under root influence due to the interplay of inorganic arsenic mobilization in bulk soil under anaerobic and immobilization under oxygenated rhizospheric conditions. Manuring increased all soil solution arsenic species (>90%), shoot total arsenic (60%), copy number of Geobacter16S rRNA, and R. palustris TIE-1 arsM, indicative of a shift towards microbes with iron reduction and oxidation as well as arsenic methylation capabilities.