Accumulation of selenium in a Chinese cabbage of a grade Pak-choi in the course of cultivation

Abstract

Most agricultural areas of Russia have soils poor in mineral selenium, causing higher oncology risks for population of such areas. The way to control malignancy incidence is selenium fortification of soils and plants. This can be achieved by agrochemical enrichment of cultivated plants with nutritive substrates containing essential minerals and trace elements. The current study aimed to assay the effect of inorganic selenium on the rate of Chinese pakchoi cabbage biomass gain for the development of agrochemical techniques for introducing selenium. The optimal selenium introduction technique would demonstrate the best balance of biomass gain rate and selenium ion accumulation in organic matter. Selenium ion accumulation dynamic was assessed during controlled growth of plants in soils enriched with nutritive substrate containing inorganic selenium (potassium selenite). The amount of selenium in plants was determined by spectroscopy. Mathematical functions describing the selenium uptake dynamic of controlled grown plants have been found, including derivatives of these functions that led to obtaining the numerical values of the respective uptake rates. It has been found that agricultural techniques that involve introduction of selenium at intermediate and late stages of cultivation are optimal for plant growth dynamic, as introducing selenium at early stages of cultivation has a negative impact on biomass uptake rates. Additionally, introducing potassium selenite to the nutritive substrate at 1.0 mg×dm–3 proved to be more effective than introducing potassium selenite at 0.5 mg×dm–3 as the former dosage led to a better plant growth dynamic.