The Physiology and Biochemical Tolerance of Cabbage to Se (VI) Addition to the Soil and by Foliar Spraying

Abstract

The effects of selenium (Se) (VI) soil fertilization with 2 μg Se L⁻¹ or foliar spraying twice with 20 mg Se L⁻¹ in the form of sodium (Na) selenate on the physiological and biochemical characteristics of cabbage plants were studied. The ability of the plants to take up Se and translocate it to different parts of the plants was also studied. Despite the high concentration of Se in the foliar solution, there was no effect on photosynthesis, transpiration rate, photochemical efficiency of PSII, or electron transport system activity. The amount of chlorophyll and anthocyanins were unchanged. At harvest, the concentration of Se in control plants was lower than 100 ng Se g⁻¹ dry weight (DW), while plants treated with 20 mg Se L⁻¹ contained 5500 ng Se g⁻¹. Selenium enriched cabbage could be used in human nutrition. The tolerance of cabbage to Se could be explained by the formation of insoluble compounds that are not available for the plant.

Keywords:

• cabbage
• electron transport system
• photosynthetic pigments
• photosystem II
• selenium

Additional information

Funding

The research was financed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia through the program “Young Researchers” (32059), the projects J4-2041 and J4-4224 and programs P1-0212 and P1-0143.